Lambda
by SigDiff
Summary: Ten years after an alien invasion, Daria and Jane are members of Earth's resistance. A Daria/Half-Life crossover. Rated M for language only.
1. Prologue: Late for Work

**Prologue: Late for Work**

He'd just been a lowly PhD in a job where doctorates were barely enough to get your foot in the door. A secret facility, straight out of a conspiracy theorist's wet dream. He only survived the initial accident because he was forced to do the physical labor, which required a top-of-the-line powered Haz-Mat suit.

He was, in fact, not particularly special at all. But on the day the man-made apocalypse began, he'd been one of the few to fight back – and survive. As the facility was overrun by monstrous creatures and evacuated, he stayed behind trying to save his colleagues. When the Marines came with orders to cover up the incident by any means necessary, he fought back. When his superiors discovered that they could send someone to another world to decapitate the enemy leadership, he was sent in alone. But against those ridiculous odds, he succeeded at the cost of being lost to time.

Unfortunately these heroics had not been enough to save his own world. What they had thought to be an entire army was merely a small division of an even greater threat. A threat that spanned not just galaxies, but entire universes.

The war lasted seven hours.

Humanity surrendered, trading immediate extinction with a slow and painful one. The Combine installed a puppet government, allowing itself free reign over the world - stripping it of its resources, enslaving its people, and converting them into something... inhuman.

But humans have never taken their own extinction lying down. The few from that secret facility who survived became leaders of a new Resistance. And wherever they went, the story of the lone hero followed. _Gordon Freeman freed the Vortigaunts. Gordon Freeman survived the portal storms at Black Mesa. Gordon Freeman took on the Combine by himself and won. When we were all doomed, Gordon Freeman saved us._

_Gordon Freeman will return to save us again._

Gordon Freeman. The One Free Man as he was known to the Vortigaunts. Just a lowly PhD in a job where doctorates were barely enough to get your foot in the door.

Hell, he'd even been late to work that day.


	2. The Superscience Santa Claus

**Chapter 1 - The Superscience Santa Claus**

Daria Morgendorffer didn't particularly believe in the story of Gordon Freeman. She viewed him much in the same way she viewed Santa Claus. A man fitting his general description did exist at some point, and probably did some things that were seen as amazing, but he wasn't going to be the savior of humanity. Just like how Santa Claus never brought her that damned replica human skull.

Like many of her fellow soldiers, she knew that the facility at which the legendary Gordon Freeman worked at was the same place this hell-on-Earth had started. For most, this didn't seem to be a problem. But as far as she was concerned, Daria believed that Freeman and the rest of his colleagues were the reason for the bullshit she had lived through for the past ten years.

What she did believe in was the Combine. Scars scattered around her body as well as her orphaned status served as convincing evidence to their existence. Even in the early morning darkness of her bedroom, she could see the pale scars on her arms where the Combine's more inventive methods of killing had left their mark. Her best friend, the biggest contributer to the fact that they were just scars and not mortal wounds, was snoring lightly from her sleeping bag in the opposite corner. Her name was Jane, and as far as they knew they were the only family that either of them had left.

They had met thirteen years ago on Daria's first day at a new high school. They'd been best friends ever since. They lost their families together, they fled across an ocean together, and when denial and bargaining gave way to anger, they joined the Resistance together. For eight years they ate, slept, fought, and bled together.

Today the duo went by the name Grey Team. The name signified that they were the recon contingent of their outpost's armed forces. The perks of being on such a small team included having their own room. Larger teams like Red and Blue had to share cramped improvised barracks.

At the moment, such operational specifics were the last thing on Daria's mind. At the forefront of it was the fact that it was five in the morning, and she couldn't get back to sleep.

_Four hours. Two weeks lying in the damn mud waiting to launch a raid and hoping the zombies stay away from us and now all I can get is four measly hours of sleep._

She let out a sigh as she decided to get dressed. After grabbing her jacket, she quietly sneaked out the front door, heading to the pier. Thanks to the Combine's efforts in draining the oceans, the pier didn't exactly serve its purpose anymore. It did at least provide a decent overlook of the beach, one of only two entry points into their outpost.

As she sat down at the end of the wooden platform, Daria could hear the scurrying of several Ant Lions in the sand below her. Like their namesake, the alien creatures burrowed underground and waited for their prey to come by. Unlike their siblings, they were the size of a Great Dane and perfectly capable of killing a grown man by themselves. Despite this, Daria was not worried. The insects never left their sandy habitat, making it safe as long as she stayed off the beach itself.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Daria jumped at the voice behind her, before immediately recognizing the speaker and preparing herself for incoming snide remarks about her skittishness.

"What happened to the famous Lane sleeping habits? You're not due to wake up for another eight hours."

Jane gave a smirk before firing back, "Obviously you haven't done your assigned studying of the Lane subculture. We're not supposed to go to bed until sunrise. I however am a model student. I see you are a perfect representative specimen for the easily frightened species, _Darius Morgendorffia._"

"I do have the authority to order you to jump off this pier, _Corporal _Lane."


	3. Driving the Revolution

**Chapter 2 - Driving the Revolution**

Corporal Alan Watts was having a very bad day.

It began just after sunrise when a fellow Resistance member burst through the door of his barracks and yelled; "WE'VE BEEN COMPROMISED, EVAC NOW!" As if to prove the speaker was not playing a practical joke, the outburst was punctuated with the wall beside his bed caving in from a guided missile. While dangerous, it was at least an effective alarm clock.

There was no protocol for this kind of event. If the Combine were coming, the sentries should have engaged immediately to provide time and distance for the rest of the outpost. Watts hurriedly donned his jacket, grabbed his rifle, and began to run out the new improvised door when the words finally registered in his brain.

_Evac. Shit._

Realizing the gravity of the situation, he turned back to his bunk and began to frantically search through his footlocker. As he found what he was looking for, a heavy hand grabbed him by the shoulder.

"This is NOT the time to BROWSE your collection, CORPORAL. We need to EVACUATE the PREMISES now!"

"Yes Sergeant!"

That had been twelve hours ago. Corporal Watts, the Sarge, and anyone else who was still capable had run for their lives as the Combine gunships destroyed the outpost one building at a time. Within minutes the two soldiers realized they were alone- their comrades had scattered as they fled. Seeking shelter they headed for the nearest outpost, only to find the aftermath of a similar scene. Three outposts later, they realized that they probably weren't going to find a safe haven in City 23.

After walking out of earshot of the last outpost, the Sergeant DeMartino stopped his subordinate to fill him in on an idea that he was considering.

"ALRIGHT. It is obviously not safe here ANYMORE. I think it would be PRUDENT if we secured transportation and ATTEMPTED to link up with the Resistance in ANOTHER city. I understand if you WISH to stay behind and try to HELP your fellow soldiers corporal. So I will not ORDER you to come with me."

Watts cringed at his sergeant's habit of yelling every few words. It was a tic which only occurred when he was stressed, and was about as helpful to morale as trench foot.

"No sir. If they got this many outposts this quickly, then it's obvious the Combine is on to us. We've lost this city. The best we can do is help another one."

"AGREED, Corporal. Let's try to find a ride out of here."

---------------------------------

Their search ended at an abandoned car dealership on the outskirts of City 23. The lot was full of rusted-out vehicles. Those that still had tires were flat and dry-rotted. It was beginning to look like a bust until the Corporal pried open a filing cabinet labeled in the Dutch phrase for "Trade-Ins" and discovered documentation for a Toyota pickup that had been traded in the day before the Black Mesa incident. The last record showed it was in the maintenance bay, getting an inspection.

Sure enough, upon entering the maintenance bay the two immediately spotted the truck sitting on a raised lift across the room. Watts chuckled.

"What's so funny Corporal?"

"Toyota. Transportation of choice for 'freedom fighters' since 1987. There was even a war in Libya called the 'Toyota War' because both sides used the trucks as technicals."

"Mostly right, Corporal. But we don't have time for a history lecture. There's a grocery store across the street, hopefully with some non-perishables still on the shelves. See what you can do to get this thing down while I head over to get some supplies. We've got a long drive ahead of us."

This was the first time DeMartino had mentioned anything close to specifics on where they were headed. Realizing this, the Corporal asked, "Where exactly are we going sir?"

"City 17. I know a few people who transferred there, years ago. And it's the home of Breen's administration."

Watts was about to ask more when DeMartino simply stepped out.

_Well, guess I'll get to work then._

_---------------------_

Walking back out into the dealership's lot, DeMartino made note of a music store a few doors down from the grocer's.

_I'll have to check in on THAT later._

Unfortunately, this stray thought left him unprepared when he walked through the open doors of the grocery store. Just as he turned around to look where he was going, he witnessed a chunk of wood just inches from his face and closing rapidly. He didn't even have time to flinch before....

"OW!" He exclaimed as the wooden branch exploded on his face. The sound of breaking wood was accompanied by a voice yelling what sounded like "...not going to get your hands on me you MAN!" The Sergeant didn't stop to ponder why he wasn't unconscious after a blow to the head. Instead, he grabbed his sidearm as he jumped backwards through the door.

"Anthony?"

It was a voice he hadn't heard in years. The last time he'd heard it, decades would have been far too short to go without meeting its owner again.

"You SWING like a GIRL, Barch!"

In normal times he would never have said such a line without being suicidal, but at the moment he felt the gun evened the odds, if only slightly.

"The damn branch was rotted out. You're not trying to loot us, are you?"

DeMartino stood up and pointed to his arm, where a patch was sewn in the shape of a lowercase Lambda, the universal symbol of the Resistance.

"What do you THINK? Where's O'Neill?"

"Hiding behind the counter."

Barch motioned toward the customer service counter just to the left of the door.

"So you haven't shown your TRUE colors and EATEN him yet?"

-----------------------

Despite being sheltered from the harsher elements, the constant changes in temperature and the years of sitting unattended with the wheels dangling off the suspension had really done a number on the truck. The tires were in decent shape, but a quick check with a scavenged pressure gauge revealed them to be completely flat.

After checking that the truck wouldn't simply fall apart under it's own weight, Watts pulled out his combat knife. Somehow the lift's hydraulics had not sprung a leak, despite the years of neglect. Watts knew he could easily cut the lines running up the hydraulic jacks, but the problem he faced was not knowing if the lift would come down gradually, or slam down and crush him.

He eventually settled the problem by taking a shard of glass from one of the shop's many broken windows and taping it to a breaker bar he found leaning against a tool box.

Watts was immediately thankful for this precautionary measure, as the truck slammed to the ground, yanking the bar out of his hand. Somewhat shaken by the fact that he had seriously been considering just reaching in with his knife, he opened the driver's side door. The key was sitting on the front seat.

_Well, no need to hotwire it later then, _he though to himself as he popped the hood and checked the the rubber hosing and accessory belts. They too had managed to escape the problems of dry-rotting. Watts was also pleased to find an engine-powered compressor in a corner of the engine bay. A check of the dipstick showed that the oil had been drained, but never replaced. The mechanic on duty when the world ended was probably waiting to lower the truck before refilling it.

_That just leaves trying to find some oil and unexpired fuel._

Unexpired fuel was the biggest problem for civilian transportation. There was plenty of fuel sitting around in gas station storage tanks, but over the last 10 years it had slowly broken down and become contaminated with water. To top it off, this truck was a diesel.

There was a knock at the door across the room.

"How's it coming Corporal?"

Watts looked up to see his Sergeant and what looked like two refugees carrying bags of groceries.

"Um, alright Sarge. We need diesel though."

"No problem. Tell them what you told me, Barch."

Barch set down her bags in the bed of the pickup before turning to the Corporal. "We've been living in the grocery store for a few months now, trying to stock up enough to leave. We just harvested a crop from our garden."

Watt's face visibly brightened. He was pretty sure what the next sentence was going to be.

"We also planted some rapeseed so we could make diesel. We managed to harvest enough for two tanks. I also traded some of our food for a few quarts of oil several weeks ago."

"You are a damn angel..."

Anthony DeMartino was dumbstruck. The idea of anyone calling Janet Barch an angel more alien than the Combine.

"...But if you had all the supplies, why didn't you just leave?"

Barch shrugged. "We hadn't traded for any guns yet."

-----------------------------------

It took the rest of the night to remove the fuel tank from the truck for inspection. Luckily the tank had been empty, possibly siphoned several days after the war by looters. This had saved it from the fuel's breakdown into a watery mixture which would have rusted the tank out in just a few years.

At some point during the inspection Sergeant DeMartino, who had admitted to being hopeless with vehicle maintenance, stepped out to the music store. He returned half an hour later with a stack of CD's.

Corporal Watts looked up from the partially disassembled fuel tank.

"So, what did you get?"

DeMartino sat on the concrete floor and began to flip through the plastic cases.

"Some Stones, C.C.R., Beatles, Steppenwolf, and I even managed to find Buffalo Springfield."

"Sweet. I haven't heard Buffalo Springfield since the Invasion." Watts held up a hand covered in grease as a request for a high-five, which DeMartino returned.

----------------------

They set off at sunrise, with a half-full drum of fuel tied down in the bed next to their food. Watts sat in the bed with them. His excuse for the request was that it allowed for him to return fire more easily if they were engaged. The real reason was because after his initial impression of Janet Barch, she had turned out to be an extremely frightening woman.


	4. Hell is in the Journey

**Chapter 3 - Hell is in the Journey**

True to Jane's word, she had retreated from the outside world to go to bed as the sun began to peek over the horizon. Unfortunately, Daria could not follow suit. It was 6 AM, and she had a weekly team commander meeting in thirty minutes.

She quietly moved around their bedroom, which had once been a small kitchen. When they'd been assigned to that room, there had been murmurs from the other teams about favoritism. She and Jane had put an end to that a few weeks later by stopping a squadron of Combine soldiers trying to flank Red Team during a botched supply raid.

It didn't matter that they lived in a kitchen anyway. The stove hadn't worked in years, and the oven on which it sat was used as storage.

Daria shuffled through the cupboards looking for anything to eat, finally settling on a pair of fresh apples from a supply run the day before. Pocketing one, she pulled out her knife and cut off a slice of the other before eating it straight off the blade, causing her to immediately gag.

_Note to self: remember to clean the knife before eating with it. Especially after lying in the mud for several days._

As she headed downstairs to the briefing room, she tried to clean off the apple where her knife had cut in. Finally satisfied with her work, she sat down in one of the chairs in front of a large rolling chalkboard. She was the last of the team commanders to arrive, but luckily Colonel Cubbage was just walking in from another door as she settled down.

Cubbage was an odd case. For starters, his name was Odessa Cubbage. Daria didn't know if this was his real name, or a nickname gotten from some unknown combat action. The main problem with it was that City 17 had previously been Odessa, a Black Sea port in the Ukraine. As such, their own outpost was called New Little Odessa. Having a commander with the same name as the base just seemed to imply that something was wrong to her.

On top of name, he spoke in Received Pronunciation. In Daria's mind there was simply no way to sound more fake than that. He wore combat insignias on his jacket, implying that he served in the armed forces before the Invasion. Strangely, the jacket was blue with "SECURITY" written on the back. It could have just been that the uniform they were originally on had long ago deteriorated, but it certainly didn't instill confidence. Despite that, Cubbage was generally accepted as a good leader for N.L.O.

"Alright commanders. It is currently six thirty in the morning. This is the team leader briefing for the week of September 12, 2010. Let's begin with a debrief of last week's events."

One by one, the team leaders recounted the big events of the past week. Daria, being at the end of the row, was last.

"Grey Team provided reconnaissance for Red in the ammunition supply raid. No kills, no casualties. We also noticed that there was a decrease in headcrab and zombie activity compared to previous missions in the area."

Cubbage looked down at a notepad he was carrying. "Yes, we been getting reports of decreased zombie activity. Intelligence from other outposts suggests that the populations are thinning out due to the lack of shelling in recent months."

The team leaders nodded in agreement. Headcrabs were "delivered" to human populations via special artillery shells. They were a special gift that kept on giving, far more effective than simple biological weapons. The creatures themselves were about the size of a rabbit, walked on four legs, and had no eyes. In large numbers the parasitic aliens could effectively convert an entire town into zombies, but they tended not to live long enough to breed when surrounded by a well armed population.

"If that is all, we'll now move on to this week's assignments. Red and Blue teams, next week is the monthly switch. Be sure to remind your men. Green Team, you will be inspecting bridges along Highway 17 between mile markers 37 and 54. White Team, we need you to head out to the farms and help repair some solar arrays that were damaged during the wind storm a few weeks ago. And Grey Team, we have a special expedition for you. Please stay after for a full briefing. Dismissed."

--------------------------

_I may have to kill myself before this is over with._

Anthony DeMartino realized that he had a very tight grip on the steering wheel. Being stuck in a crew cab with Barch for four days of hard driving was far more stress than he had bargained for. After the second day, he had even become suspicious that Corporal Watts had chosen to spend the day shift in the back in order to watch his N.C.O. squirm at Barch's every sentence. He dismissed that thought when he realized that Watts was spending most of the day in blissful sleep, lying back in the truck's bed using his jacket as a pillow.

Sergeant DeMartino didn't have that luxury. Watts was alone during the night driving shift, as the two refugees were asleep and DeMartino was forced to catch some himself to avoid the ever-more-tempting possibility of falling asleep at the wheel, killing them all. There wasn't enough room in the cab for two to sleep, so Janet and Timothy got the truck bed. DeMartino had to make do with the cramped second row bench seat.

It was almost over though. He could see City 17's Citadel bursting up from the horizon. A dark blue spire that nearly blended in with the sky at this distance. They were running along the coast now, hoping to run into a citizen somewhere to get directions. Today, he hoped, they would be linking up with the local Resistance and he could finally get the hell away from Barch.

It was at that moment the Sergeant realized that Watts didn't need another shift of sleep, as this was the last day of the journey. In fact, he should probably be awake since they were getting closer to Combine enforced territory. A devious thought entered De Martino's mind, causing him to slow down and pull off the road.

--------------

Just as he was beginning to drift off into a dream, Alan Watts felt a sharp pain in his upper arm. As his conscious mind switched back on, he could hear a horrible voice.

"Get up you MAN. You're so damned lazy, always expecting a woman to do your job for you. Well I'm not taking that ANYMORE."

_I may have to kill that woman before this is over with, _Watts thought to himself as he sat up.

--------------

Daria stayed seated as the other team leaders left the room. Once the room had cleared, she gave an inquisitive look to Colonel Cubbage.

"So, what's this expedition you spoke of?"

"As you may know, Sergeant Morgendorffer, the refugee evacuation route along the highways has become increasingly dangerous. The Resistance is looking to establish a new route along the canals."

"But there's large parts of the canals contaminated with radioactive waste, and the parts that are clean are crawling with predators. The last time I checked we were still edible to some species."

Cubbage held up a hand in the universal signal for _stop before you get ahead of yourself._

"I'm aware of that Sergeant, but I have been assured that those difficulties have been taken care of. Now, your mission..."

The Colonel paused to flip the chalkboard over, revealing a detailed map of the coast.

"...is to establish a station along the new route here." He pointed at a spot where a bend in the canal created a peninsula. "This is the tentative location for Station 7. We'll be using a pre-existing building,with a good view of the river. Your job will be to establish a presence, carrying in basic medical supplies and holding the location until a permanent staff can arrive."

"Sir, Grey Team just returned from a two week mission. I don't think we're prepared to turn around for a heavy lifting job."

"I understand that Sergeant, I'm just getting you briefed now so that you can take time to devise your own plan on how to accomplish the mission. You're not moving out until Tuesday. If needed I can also grant you the authority to borrow members from any other team."

_Still not enough time._

"Yes sir, I'll begin preparations right away."

------------------

Sergeant DeMartino had just reached the point of stress where his brain reverted to a state of mild euphoria to protect its owner from going on a murderous rampage when he spotted a house just off the road.

_God, I'm SORRY for not believing in you BEFORE. You ARE merciful and loving. BUT you're just a little bit SLOW in your response._

DeMartino pulled off the road towards the structure. The lack of traffic over the years had allowed the driveway to disappear, but an improvised fence in the yard that had managed to stay intact hinted at the possibility the house was occupied.

Stepping out, DeMartino slapped the side of the truck.

"Watts. Backup."

"Yes sir." Watts replied, grabbing his rifle and sidearm. He didn't think his M25 would actually be useful in a possible firefight, but it could at least make an effective club.

The two men walked up to the house, Watts trailing several feet behind and to the side. Barch and O'Neill had been given standing orders before leaving City 23 to run like hell in the event the two were killed. This process had involved DeMartino trying not to have a heart attack while O'Neill tried to prevent his wife from causing one.

As DeMartino reached the door, Watts took up position to the side, holding out his sidearm – a pistol that had been scavenged from a dead Civil Protection officer. The Sergeant raised his fist to knock, and was left standing as the door opened without provocation to reveal a young woman.

"You refugees?"

Taken aback, DeMartino decided to respond with honesty. "No, rebels," he replied, leaning forward to show the symbol on his arm. "There was a crackdown in City 23. We're trying to link up with the local Resistance."

The woman at the door gave a look that said there was a decision going on that ended in the conclusion that such a dilemma was above her rank.

"You'll want to head to NLO then. Straight down the highway, you'll be stopped by a gate. I'll radio ahead to let them know you're coming. You care to give me your names?"

"I'm Anthony DeMartino. The others are Alan Watts, Janet Barch, and Timothy O'Neill."

"Got it."

The door shut in DeMartino's face. Watts gave his Sergeant an inquisitive look.

"They've PROBABLY had problems with raiders in FAKE Resistance jackets. It's not like it's HARD to forge a badly sewn Lambda. Let's get moving."

--------------------

"I want a pizza." Jane said to Daria's back as she searched for a real breakfast in the cupboard.

"There hasn't been such a thing as pizza in years. Not any kind that doesn't require lots of effort to make anyway."

"I know, I still want one."

"I still have a pair of boots, and they can still kick your ass."

A knock at the door brought their attention to a private from Red Team.

"The Colonel wants team leaders in the ready room. New arrivals coming in from City 23."

Daria rolled her eyes. Normally she'd have several days of rest after such a long mission, but it seemed that life was conspiring against her once more. She gave a look to Jane that said "find yourself something to eat" and headed downstairs.

In the ready room she found Cubbage waiting with the other team leaders.

"Good, we can begin. Our spotters have made contact with several Resistance members that have just arrived from City 23. They claim that the Combine has tracked down and all but eliminated the Resistance there."

There was a noticeable change in mood in the room. Despite the constant threat of death, the Combine didn't really go on the offensive with the Resistance. A force based on the enslavement of the local lifeforms didn't really need to.

"We have some names too. Anthony DeMartino, Alan Watts, Janet Barch and Timothy O'Neill."

Daria's eyes widened with recognition.

"Who?"

-------------------

Jane grabbed her gun as she heard the sound of someone running up the stairs. Such a sound was usually followed by that same someone yelling that there was an attack coming.

Instead she was surprised to see Daria, who despite years of a physical training regimen called "running for your life," was breathless.

"DeMartino. Barch. O'Neill. Coming here."

"Does this mean we're going to have a pop quiz?"


	5. Why Do We Have Reunions?

**Chapter 4 - Why Do We Have Reunions?**

After leaving the house, DeMartino had decided that perhaps it was time to pull rank. The result was that Watts was now driving, while he sat in the bed enjoying the sound of nothing but the wind.

Watts was suffering the sound of Janet Barch. Specifically how she continued to complain about her ex-husband to her current one. Watts had determined quite early in this partnership that Timothy O'Neill had the backbone of a jellyfish and the fortitude of a birthday cake, but even this seemed to be too much. He wondered if perhaps O'Neill had been forced into the relationship, because it certainly didn't seem that he had the courage to ask someone like Barch out. The man rarely worked up the courage to speak, and it was even rarer for him to be able to get a word in the conversation.

It took another hour of driving before they reached the already opened gate to N.L.O. Immediately they were surrounded by people carrying guns. Watts stopped the truck, having already rolled down the windows in the hope that the wind noise could drown Barch out. A petite woman with auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail approached the driver's side window.

"You must be Watts. I'm Sergeant Morgendorffer. I believe you're traveling with some friends of mine?"

Barch spoke up from the back seat. "Daria? Is that really you?"

"Yes Mrs. Barch. Sorry for the armed welcome, it's a standard precaution. I'm told you're all members of the Resistance?"

"No ma'am," Watts replied, hoping that Barch didn't get any ideas from being mistaken as a Resistance member, "just me and Sergeant DeMartino, who apparently hasn't woken up yet."

At that moment it occurred to Watts that this would be a good time for revenge.

-------------------

"GET UP YOU _MAN!_"

"YOU KICK LIKE A GIRL, BARCH!"

"Shut up Tony, we're here. And there's a surprise for you."

DeMartino shot upright instantly. When Janet Barch claimed to have a surprise, it was usually painful.

"Hello Mr. DeMartino."

The former history teacher spun around to face the source of the voice. What he saw was the same face. Admittedly it was aged, but those brown eyes still held a spark that said "I'm going to assume you're stupid until you prove otherwise." He also noticed the three chevrons above her Resistance patch.

"_Sergeant _Morgendorffer. It's a PLEASURE to see you again."

"What am I, invisible?" said a voice from the other side of the truck. This one belonged to a raven-haired girl, whose blue eyes held the same message as Daria's.

"And _Corporal_ Lane?"

"Howdy."

Daria rolled her eyes at her friend's playful attitude. "I'd love to continue this little reunion, but the Colonel wants to see all of us. Hand me the keys."

Watts pulled the key out of the ignition and dropped them into Daria's hand.

"Now leave your weapons in the truck. Sorry, standard procedure."

DeMartino pulled off the strap holding his MP7 and placed it along with his pistol in the bed of the truck. Watts stepped out of the driver's seat and did the same with his guns. Daria then motioned the group to follow her towards a large two story house.

"I'm supposed to frisk you too, but I trust you enough not to kill us and frankly that would be too weird."

"We don't know Watts. You could frisk him, Daria."

"Remember Corporal Lane: Boots. Ass. Collision."

-----------------

Inside the basement, the new arrivals found a man who was entirely too British not to laugh at.

"Hello! I am Colonel Odessa Cubbage. I am the commander of this outpost. Please, have a seat."

The six obliged by sitting in the chairs still in place from the team leader meeting earlier that morning.

"I understand that there was a crackdown on the Resistance in City 23, our Vortigaunts have already confirmed it. You two..." he nodded toward Barch and O'Neill, "are free to join the Resistance if you want to. Otherwise we can transport you to a farming settlement away from the city."

"We'll take the farm, thank you," Barch replied. As much as the idea of shooting someone appealed to her, she had long ago resigned herself to making sure her husband didn't die.

Cubbage replied, "I'll make the arrangements then. As for you two," now directing his attention to Watts and DeMartino, "the same offer applies. I have to mention that if you decide to join us, it will have to be at the rank of Private. We need to establish that we can trust you before promoting you."

Before either man could accept, Daria spoke up. "Sir, I've known Sergeant DeMartino as long as I have known Corporal Lane. I can vouch for him."

"Very well, you can remain at the rank of Sergeant."

Sensing the system that had just been used, DeMartino decided to try his luck.

"Sir, I've served with Corporal Watts for five years now. I can vouch for his trustworthiness."

Cubbage was visibly annoyed, but recognized the Resistance's trust system at work.

"Fine. You can both retain your ranks, but there will be a probationary period. Now, what specialties do you two have?"

"Recon," DeMartino answered.

"Sniper-spotter." Watts added.

"Convenient, Grey Team is short-staffed. You'll be assigned to Sergeant Morgendorffer. She can fill you in on how things are run around here. Now if you'll excuse me, we were prepping for an engineering survey."

----------------

"Alright," Daria began, "first thing's first, each team shares a room with each other. I think you can understand how weird this is for me and Jane, Mr. DeMartino."

"I'll try to keep that in mind Sergeant Morgendorffer. What's with the talk of different teams?"

"We group soldiers by specialty. Red and Blue teams are basic infantry. Red is offensive, Blue is defensive. Those two switch names every month or so to avoid combat fatigue. Green Team is engineering and demolition. White is electronic warfare, and Grey is recon and stealth maneuvers."

"And who else is on Grey Team?"

"This _is_ Grey Team, sir. And _this_ is our barracks."

Daria stopped by a door to what had once been a kitchen. Inside, a refrigerator with no door served as shelving for basic hygiene products. It dawned on the two men that they'd left their razors behind when they'd fled their former base.

"Cozy," Watts commented, scratching under his chin.

"Word of warning, the stove and oven don't work. The oven does make a handy place to keep drinks from freezing in the winter, though. There's also enough space for each of us to have a cupboard for our personal effects."

DeMartino shrugged. "Are you sure you're fine with us sleeping in here? There's room just outside the kitchen."

"No sir. It's policy for the entire team to share a room. We find it forces any conflicts to get resolved quickly. Now, let's get your stuff and get you moved in."

--------------------

Jane found that she couldn't sleep that night. It wasn't unexpected – Daria had put her on the night watch while they had been observing that ammo dump – but it was very annoying knowing that she'd have to be awake the next morning to take Barch and O'Neill to the farms.

There was a moment of inner struggle before she decided that she could sleep in the truck and grabbed her jacket and silenced MP7 submachine gun to head outside.

She was disappointed to find a lone silhouette sitting at the end of the pier. The stock of a rifle poking above the left shoulder revealed the owner to be Corporal Watts.

_Well, gotta get to know the new guy eventually._

"Yo, Corporal," she called out before stepping on the pier.

Watts turned, revealing to Jane that he was holding a picture.

"Hey. You can call me Alan if you want. This Corporal business is bound to get confusing with two of us running around."

"Fair enough," she replied as she continued down the pier, "I'm okay with Jane."

Alan began to stuff the picture in his pocket, but not before Jane caught a glimpse of a young blonde woman, sitting behind the wheel of a car.

"Was she your girlfriend?"

Alan paused before pulling the picture back out.

"No, she was my little sister. I took this the day got her license."

Jane sensed that there was more to this story on the way, and remained quiet while she waited.

"She bought an old Challenger when she was fourteen. We spent two years restoring it together. We had to repaint it just a month before her sixteenth birthday because she saw _Vanishing Point."_

"What was her name?"

"Alice."

Jane let out a stifled laugh. "Alan and Alice?"

Watts cracked a smile. "Yeah. My parents actually planned that theme out. If she had turned out to be another boy she would have been Alex."

Jane's eyes brightened – it was always fun to pull out her family's naming dysfunction. "Out of five kids, only two of us weren't named after weather or currency. And mine rhymes."

"Damn, you win."


	6. It Sucks to Meet New People

**Chapter 5 - It Sucks to Meet New People**

"WAKE UP YOU CHAUVINIST PIG."

Watts woke up to a pain in his shoulder and Janet Barch standing over him. Turning his head, he could see DeMartino standing several feet behind her. The Sergeant winked.

"Don't mess with an OLD soldier Watts, you'll ALWAYS get burned."

--------------------

The group gathered around the truck as Daria and Jane finished loading ammo boxes. It was a task which always annoyed them, with the all the different types of ammo to be accounted for. There had been more than one occasion in which one of the girls had asked the other why there was no such thing as universal ammunition.

"Alright," Daria began as she placed the last ammo box in the truck, "first thing's first, this Sergeant and Corporal business is going to get confusing when I have a former teacher under my command. So as far as I'm concerned, we're on a first name basis. Tony..."

Daria paused from how unusual it felt to call her history teacher Tony.

"...You're technically _allowed_ to give Jane commands, provided you don't actually do so."

Tony raised an eyebrow. He understood the basis for such a rule, but it took a few brain cycles for the logic to work itself out.

"Now," Daria continued. "mount up. Mrs. Barch, Mr. O'Neill, you're in the cab. Tony, you're driving. The rest of us are in the back in case we need our guns out. Keep the back window open for communication."

DeMartino visibly sagged. _It NEVER ends._

The group jumped into the truck and drove off down the highway, back in the direction it had arrived from the day before. After several minutes of silence, Watts decided to ask something that had been on his mind since the previous evening.

"Why am I the only sniper here?"

"You're not," Daria answered, "Red and Blue Teams have snipers, but none of them have any skill when it comes to stealth maneuvers, so they're not on Grey Team."

"Congrats, you're an official sneaky bastard." Jane said with a wink. "Your day-glo orange commemorative shirt will arrive in the next 3 to 5 business days."

--------------

Thirty miles down the road, a man was cooking breakfast. This would normally not be of note, except this was not his kitchen. Nor was it his house.

As he scrambled the eggs he found in the pantry, he thought to himself about the night before.

_I didn't think it'd be that easy. He didn't even put up a fight. Not like it even mattered with a knife in his face._

_And she was great. Oh man, was she good. _

---------------

Half an hour later, Daria craned her neck to get a better view above the walls of the truck bed. From her seat she could see a house, set a few hundred feet from the road, overlooking the ocean.

"That's odd."

Jane looked over from her intense examination of the passing cliff face. "What is?"

"You know that spotter house with the fence around the front yard where that young couple lives?"

"That's the house we stopped by yesterday," Watts answered.

"Well the chimney isn't smoking. I've never seen it off this late in the year."

"Maybe they finally warmed up," Jane remarked.

"Maybe, but it wouldn't hurt to check on the way back."

------------------

After another half hour, they finally reached their destination.

Daria opened the door for her former teachers and led them to a small building, surrounded by greenhouses. There, they were greeted by a large man with a Midwestern accent.

"Hey, Sergeant Morgendorffer! What brings you here today? Hopefully you're picking up this order of watermelons for Doctor Kleiner."

"Nope, sorry. I've got two refugees for you. This is Janet Barch and Timothy O'Neill."

She turned to the couple. "Mrs. Barch, Mr. O'Neill, this is Harvey. He grows food for the surrounding community, since Overwatch doesn't bother to come out this far. You should be safe out here, and you'll get any help you need finding a place to stay."

Barch approached her former student. Daria was surprised to notice that her eyes were tearing up. She was even more surprised when Barch hugged her.

"Thank you Daria. I don't know what else to say, except thank you."

"That's... fine Ms. Barch. We do it for everyone, but you're welcome."

Barch moved on to Jane, allowing her husband to get a hug in as well.

"You're welcome too, Mr. O'Neill. Good luck."

--------------------

Back in the kitchen, having eaten the stolen eggs with a side of pilfered bacon, the mystery guest was packing a duffel-bag.

_Better get out of here soon. Someone's bound to come snooping around. _

--------------------

The ride back had been much more comfortable now that everyone could sit in the cab.

"Stop here, that's the house."

DeMartino pulled the truck off the road. The four passengers filed out, guns drawn.

"Jane, take point."

Jane stepped out front, her silenced MP7 pointing forward. When they reached the front door, Daria took up a position to the left of the door, while Watts and Demartino took the right. Jane knocked, then waited for several seconds, listening intently for any noise inside.

"No answer."

Daria sighed. "Damnit. Kick it in."

Jane tried the handle. "No need, it's unlocked."

When she opened the door, Jane immediately wished she hadn't.

"Oh god."

The other three tensed. Daria rushed up to her friend, who wasn't moving. "What is it?"

"Take a look."

She stepped aside, revealing the living room of the house. From the door, Daria could see a man's body lying across a chair. The chair was soaked in blood, as were his clothes, thanks to a ragged cut across his throat.

Daria spun around to DeMartino and Watts. "You two, sweep upstairs. Jane and I will sweep down here. Shoot anything that looks suspicious."

Watts and DeMartino crept up the stairs, as Daria and Jane moved off to the kitchen. After several quiet seconds, DeMartino yelled back down.

"Daria! We've got something.... _someone_ you should see!"

Daria found the two in a bedroom off of the stairs. At their feet was the body of a young woman, naked below the waist. Both men were visibly disturbed by what they saw. Daria had to fight back the urge to throw up.

Jane grabbed her friend by the shoulders. "You alright?" _I know I'm not. _

"Yeah... I think so. I've heard about this happening, but I never thought I'd see it."

DeMartino looked to the two girls. "You've heard of this happening before?"

Daria looked up to reply. "The Combine have a Suppression field around City 17. It basically makes sex impossible, but it doesn't get rid of the urge. So when people get out of the city, this happens sometimes, especially if they're not kept under watch."

Jane looked off into the distance as if she was thinking intently. "The stove is still warm, he couldn't have left more than fifteen minutes ago. We didn't see any vehicles when we came by the first time, so he has to be on foot."

Daria straightened herself out. "Good thinking. He shouldn't be hard to track. The cliffs and the beach stop him from leaving the road, and we didn't see anyone driving back. He must be ahead. We'll stop anyone we see."

---------------

It only took a few minutes before they passed a hitchhiker. DeMartino pulled the truck onto the shoulder, while Jane called out from the passenger window.

"Hey, need a lift?"

"Yeah, thanks!"

The hitchhiker hopped in the back, where he found what he assumed to be a young couple. He didn't notice that they were dressed lightly for the weather - a result of Daria's orders to remove their jackets, which held their identification as Resistance members.

"Hi, I'm Grant."

"Hey Grant, I'm Daria, and this is Alan." Daria offered her hand, which Grant shook.

_Fresh scratches on his arms and hands. A black eye too. Definitely our guy._

Grant moved to shake Watts' hand as well. Watts glanced at Daria to confirm his similar suspicions.

Watts continued the conversation. "So where ya headed, Grant?"

"Oh, I'm working my way over to a friend's house down the road."

"You know, we were headed up in the opposite direction a little while ago. We didn't see you before."

Grant visibly tensed. Daria and Watts both thought, _Gotcha._

"Yeah, this nice couple took me in last night, let me sleep and gave me breakfast."

Watts feigned interest. "You mean those two who live in the house on the bluff?"

"Yeah, good people aren't they?"

Daria knocked on the back window, which Jane opened. "Pull over."

Grant suddenly became much more anxious. "What are you guys doing?"

Daria and Watts both jumped out of the truck bed, joining Jane and DeMartino in surrounding the tailgate. Grant examined each of the four.

Jane spoke up. "Don't try and run, you won't stand a chance."

Grant ignored the threat, lunging straight at Daria. He was stopped mid in mid-air by a hand to the shirt collar and a knife to the throat.

"Don't even THINK about hurting my student," DeMartino whispered into his ear.

"Why are you doing this?"

Daria stepped closer. "You know why. You killed that man and raped his wife. You've got scratches and bruises on your arms from where they fought back. You even admitted to being at the house. I bet that duffel-bag is full of things you stole from them."

"So what are you gonna do about it?" said Grant, with little conviction.

"I'm not doing anything. The Resistance can't afford to have Sergeants killing people without a trial. Commanders don't do that sort of thing."

Grant relaxed in DeMartino's grip. Daria walked up to whisper into his ear.

"But no one will think twice if a couple of Corporals got a little ahead of themselves and executed a man they thought was a murderer."

She backed away, and turned to the two Corporals.

Pushing her glasses up on her face, she ordered, "Jane, Alan. Escort this gentlemen a safe distance away and release him."

------------------

Jane stepped into a clearing followed by Grant, whose wrists were taped together. Watts was close behind with his USP out and ready.

"Okay Alan. Tie him to a tree."

Watts silently obliged, wrapping more tape around the prisoner and a tree at the edge of the clearing. As he knelt to do so, he scanned the surroundings to look for possible witnesses. A slow movement caught his eye.

"We've got zombies, just past the tree line."

Jane looked to where he motioned.

"Let's make this quick then."

"Yes ma'am," Watts replied with enthusiasm. He quickly stood and clicked off the safety on his USP, bringing it up to Grant's head.

"No." Jane stopped him, "I'm doing this."

"Okay."

Jane took a deep breath and pulled out the biggest hand gun Watts had ever seen. He wasn't sure of the model, but it was a revolver that absolutely dwarfed the young woman's hands. It looked like the kind of gun that had broken wrists and smashed faces.

"God damn, was the Howitzer too expensive or something?"

"I had a coupon."

Jane leveled the gun at Grant's face, who stared straight into her eyes.

_Come on, what's the hold up? He's a rapist! A murderer! You're doing a service to humanity. Why the hell won't he stop looking at me? Fucking perverted bastard._

Jane realized that her aim was shaking. Grant had a smile on his face.

"Can't do it, can you? Neither could she." His eyes were almost glowing.

Watts stood aside, ready to shoot if asked. He looked back and forth between the two, wondering if Grant really thought he was going to get out of this, or was just trying to get himself killed before the zombies came over and left him with a fate worse than death.

"Steady Jane. I can take over if you want me to."

"Yeah, let the man take over. 'Cuz at the end of the day you're still just a sniveling bitch! I bet I could take you right now without a fight if you didn't have your boyfriend tie me up!"

Jane's entire body shook with Grant's comments. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

_You can do this._

Her eyes snapped open, and she raised the gun to Grant's head again.

"Oooooh, she's trying again. I wonder if she'll get the safety off this time!"

"Fuck you."

------------------------

Daria and DeMartino both jumped at the sound of a gunshot. Just as they began to settle, Jane and Watts burst from the tree line. Daria could hear her friend screaming.

"ZOMBIES! RUN, GOD DAMNIT!"

Daria jumped into the truck bed, throwing down the tail gate as DeMartino slammed the driver-side door and started the engine. He floored the throttle as soon as he saw the two soldiers dive into the back. The tires underneath threw up a cloud of dust and rocks before biting into the pavement at the edge of the road, letting out a screech before he finally eased off just enough to regain traction.

Behind the truck, several zombies broke through the tree line. They were effectively human skeletons. The headcrab attached to its skull had long ago forced the body to absorb the skin, extra flesh, and internal organs, converting the tissue into more muscle. The creature that resulted galloped on all fours faster than any human could run, and could leap into second-floor windows with ease.

All three soldiers in the back of the truck had their fastest-firing guns drawn, aimed back down the road at the pursuing creatures. No one fired as the targets were simply too hard to hit. Conserving ammo was always a top priority for the Resistance, and in the case of zombie contact it was always preferable to run and save the bullets for an even more serious emergency.

Thankfully even the fastest zombies could not outrun a truck, and after what felt like hours to the team's adrenaline-flooded bodies, the horrible creatures broke off their chase. Daria slapped the roof of the cab to signal DeMartino to slow back down.

Breathing heavily, she turned and asked Jane, "What happened?"

"We saw some zombies in the forest," Jane stopped to catch her breath, "but it was just a few slow ones. When we...."

Jane paused, trying to think of a statement that wasn't incriminating.

"...When we fired the warning shot to get him to run off, the fast ones came out of the trees. I mean... not like out of the tree line, they had actually climbed up into the trees. I had my back turned, I didn't even see them coming. Watts just grabbed me and started running. Oh god damn, thanks."

Watts had his head leaning back on the wall of the truck bed, looking at the sky as he caught his breath. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed, trying to get a reply out.

"Don't mention it."

Daria started giggling. It didn't surprise Jane anymore, but DeMartino found himself bewildered by the outburst he could hear behind his head. Watts found himself surprised as well. Daria hadn't struck him as the giggling type.

"Zombies! Run, God damnit!" she repeated in a teeny voice with just a trace of Jane's raspiness.

Jane fought back a smile before giving in and giggling along with her friend. They both knew that they were simply coming down off the adrenaline rush. Watts joined in, laughing until he was out of breath again.

DeMartino just kept driving. He'd had plenty of years before the Invasion to learn how to deal with it.


	7. I Need a Favor

**Chapter 6 - I Need a Favor**

The rest of the drive was mercifully uneventful, punctuated with outbursts of laughter at almost every statement. Despite urges from Daria for professionalism, no one in the group tried to calm themselves down. They all needed to release the tension that had built up over the past several days.

Upon arriving at NLO. they went straight to the briefing room for a debriefing. It was a basic formality, to confirm that Barch and O'Neill had been delivered safely to their new home. No one mentioned Grant.

As they left the room to head upstairs to their own lodgings, DeMartino stopped Daria.

"You said last night that White Team handles electronics, right?"

"Yeah," Daria answered, just slightly bewildered as to why this would need clarification.

"Do you think they might be able to help me in finding a CD player?"

"Oh. Uh.... yeah, actually. They've got tons of scavenged electronic parts, I'm sure they could build you one as a favor. You'll need to catch them fast though, they're supposed to head out to the farms for some repair work soon."

Daria directed DeMartino to another room on the first floor, which held several young men and shelves upon shelves of electronics. DeMartino recognized most of the equipment, but some looked downright alien.

"What can I do you for?" one of the men asked.

"Hey, I'm Tony. I was hoping you could help me obtain a CD player."

"No problem Tony, we get that request every once in a while. I think we have the parts in stock. I can't make a portable for you though, we just don't have the means for that kind of manufacturing. I'm Paul by the way."

DeMartino grabbed Paul's offered hand. He was sure this was the start of a wonderful friendship.

-------------------

_Jane found herself lying on a rock, overlooking the outskirts of City 17. In her hands she held her 0.357 Magnum – a Colt Python with an extended barrel._

_Down below her, the citizens of City 17 roamed the streets. They shuffled from building to building, desperately hoping not to catch the attention of the Civil Protection officers that seemed to sprout out of every corner._

_Jane carefully pointed her gun, using her left forearm to steady her aim. It would be tough to hit a target at this distance, but not impossible._

_She drew a bead on one of the officers, aiming for the center of mass. Jane squeezed the trigger, allowing the gun to jump off of her arm from the recoil. In the distance, the Civil Protection officer fell, blood flowing from his chest._

_Jane aimed at another officer, who seemingly did not notice what had just occurred. One by one, she shot each of the Combine soldiers until she couldn't find any on the streets._

_With no threats in sight, she drew a bead on one of the citizens..._

Jane snapped awake, taking a second to realize that she was safe in her newly crowded room. Daria slept beside her at a right angle, while Watts and DeMartino had arranged themselves in a similar manner in the room's other free corner.

_That's the third time tonight. I give up._

She grabbed her jacket and headed outside to the pier. Again, she found Watts sitting at the end.

"I thought you were asleep?"

"Remember when I headed out to the bathroom? I never came back."

Memory dawned on Jane, which triggered more involving her dislike for outhouses.

"Right. You _are _sneaky."

Jane sat next to her fellow soldier, dangling her lower legs off the pier. Below them, the Ant Lions gradually gathered at the base of the pilings, looking up. The two leaned over to look back in a cross-species staring contest.

"I think they want to eat you," Watts said.

"Yeah," Jane replied absent-mindedly, "sometimes I come out here with a bunch of rocks and throw them at those bastards. Never makes 'em leave though."

"Is something less literal eating at you?" Watts asked.

"Just nightmares."

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

The two sat in silence for a while, until Jane grabbed a rock from her jacket pocket. She threw it at the largest Ant Lion she could see, hitting it in the head. The creature didn't appear to notice.

"What happened to your sister?"

"She died in a Civil Protection raid. Shot in the throat by a stray bullet. I joined the Resistance the next day."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks."

More silence. Jane threw another rock. Once again the Ant Lions remained bewildered at how to proceed.

"I shouldn't have killed Grant."

_Ah, _Watts thought. "Why do you think that?"

"He was a human being, and we didn't even give him a trial."

"I wasn't aware we still had a judicial system."

Jane gave Watts a look that told him he should know what she meant.

"Jane, if we had dragged him back here, then Cubbage would have just listened to both sides, looked at the evidence, and I guarantee he would have reached the same decision we did. Grant was a dead-man walking the moment he decided to hurt those people."

"We still should have brought him back here for something that passed as a trial."

"And risk him hurting one of us and escaping? Did you miss how he tried to go after Daria?"

Jane didn't respond, but Watts could see her fists were balled at the mention of Daria being in danger.

"Alan, I killed a man today. Not some human that had been converted into a half-mechanical, faceless soldier. A real, living, breathing human being. And I wanted to. I tried to stop myself but I wanted to just put a bullet in his head and shut that bastard up forever."

Watts spun his body so that he sat facing Jane, who turned her head to look at him.

"I can't pretend to understand what you're going through. I've been lucky enough that everyone I've had to kill _was _a half-mechanical, faceless soldier. But I can tell you that if you hadn't asked to do it yourself, I would have put a bullet in that bastard's head too."

Jane remained quiet, stewing over what she'd just heard.

"Now, don't get me wrong. You're a fellow soldier and I'll do anything I can to help you because of that, but shouldn't you be talking to your friend about this?"

"You saw what happened. You heard what she 'whispered' to Grant. She's a Sergeant, and it's _policy_ to bring suspected criminals in for a trial. She can't get caught up in this. I know she would if I told her I needed her help, but I can't do that to her. The Resistance is too important to her now to risk taking it away from her."

Watts sighed. "Then talk to DeMartino. I know for a fact that he was in Vietnam. And I promise he won't give a damn about rules or policy when it comes to helping his soldiers."


	8. Anticitizen Hikers

**Chapter 7 - Anticitizen Hikers**

"GET UP, YOU VILE, BASTARD MALE."

Anthony DeMartino was fairly certain he had woken up in hell, until his vision cleared and revealed Jane with a mischievous smirk. From a corner he couldn't see without turning is head, Watts' voice rang out.

"Us kids have a few tricks up our sleeves too!"

------------------

Half an hour later, Grey Team was gathered outside a shed which passed for the armory. The each held a cup of coffee, wafting up clouds of steam in the early morning cold. Daria had informed the two newcomers they would be tagging along for this mission, if only to carry the supplies.

Secretly, she was happy to finally have a qualified sniper on the team. For the past several years, Grey Team's _modus operandi _was to observe and avoid. They were armed, but only to defend themselves in the case of an ambush. The silenced MP7's were great for a quiet take-down, and their rapid rate of fire helped in filling the air with lead when it was needed, but it lacked the stopping power to be an effective infantry weapon for such a small team. She had hoped that adding a sniper to the team would allow her more flexibility and the chance to use force more readily.

The problem had always been that the incoming soldiers who _were_ good enough shots to qualify had been universally terrible at stealth. As a result, they had all been assigned to long-range defensive positions.

"Alright," Daria began, taking her last sip of coffee, "long day ahead. Let's get moving, try to get there before nightfall."

The group walked for hours in silence. It was never a good idea to make noise in the marshlands, where the constant threat of zombies and headcrabs was compounded with the water-loving bullsquids. Bullsquids were among the more frightening alien fauna. They walked on two squat legs, using a massive tail to remained balanced. They had no visible head, just a gaping maw surrounded by red tentacles. The tentacles were used to lure in prey when submerged in murky water, but were also extremely good at grabbing larger animals. To make matters even worse, they could spit a highly acidic bile great distances to disable anything they found to be a threat – or food. Humans had turned out to be both.

They had split up into elements of two. For some reason Jane had suggested shaking things up by pairing herself with DeMartino, and Daria with Watts. Daria and Watts took point for the first shift, while DeMartino and Jane trailed behind.

Eventually, Daria felt the muck of the marshland give way to dry soil underneath her feet. Around them, the grass shortened to the point where she could just see above it. She turned around to see Jane and DeMartino's faces behind her, bobbing as they walked through the forest of reeds. They appeared to be talking about something that had them both concerned.

Daria made sure to keep her voice low when she finally spoke. There was still the danger of zombies hiding in the grass, after all.

"Watts, do you know what's wrong with Jane?"

"What makes you think that I'd know?"

Daria used a certain finger to push her glasses up on her nose. "Because the two nights you've been here, neither of you have gotten back to bed until sunrise."

"Maybe we're just nighthawks."

"Don't dance around the question Watts."

Watts sighed. He realized early on in the conversation with Jane that he was getting stuck between a cynical rock and a sarcastic brick wall. "Yes, I know what's wrong."

"And?"

"It's not my place to tell you what it is."

"And why do you think that?" Daria asked, clearly annoyed at his avoidance of the topic.

"Because she told me not to."

---------------------

"Mr. DeMartino, I...."

DeMartino waited for the rest. Eventually it became apparent that it wasn't coming.

"Yes, Ms. Lane?"

"I... need your help. I think."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've been feeling... guilty about killing Grant. It's been giving me nightmares where I start shooting civilians for no reason at all. Anyway, Watts said that you were in Vietnam and that you could probably give me some advice?"

DeMartino looked over to his former student, whose head was hung low. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"You're not evil, Ms. Lane."

Jane shuddered as she tried to hold back her tears.

"Except when you impersonate Janet Barch."

DeMartino's heart skipped a beat as he wondered if the joke was too much. He finally relaxed when Jane let out a choked laugh.

"Sorry, but Watts promised homemade pizza for for the whole team if I did that."

"I take it he didn't tell you that I'm the one who taught him how to make a homemade pizza? Very clever, using my own friends against me."

Jane raised her head, pulling her hair back behind her ears so that she could see ahead. "You two aren't going to end up killing each other over this, are you?"

"Nah, then I'd have no one to talk about the Rolling Stones with."

This elicited more laughing from both soldiers. As it began to die down, DeMartino decided to dive right in with the advice.

"I have killed other people before, and I felt a lot like you do. You need to remember that the man you killed would have easily killed you if given the chance. He would have killed all of us if he thought it would get him what he wanted. Or worse."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Wait it out. Talk it over with someone, anyone if you need to. You _will_ learn to live with it eventually, but it'll never go away."

Jane breathed out through her teeth, making a sound as though she were wincing.

"Great."

--------------------

Daria hadn't said a word since learning that Jane had told Watts not to tell her what was going on. She remained quiet even after Watts had delicately tried to explain that Jane was just protecting her from possible repercussions. Watts had quickly given up and concluded to himself that Daria was just an ice queen.

_Jane knows she can come to me for this kind of thing if she needs to. So why is she going to the new guy for this, and even telling him not to tell me? What did I do to make her think she can't trust me?_

Daria's thoughts were cut short as they arrived at the bank of the canal. Across from them, sitting high above the waterline, was a large red barn with an ancient pier standing in front.

_A giant red barn? Our idea of a low key place for refugees to hide on their way out of town is a giant god damned red barn? Who the _hell _thought that was a good idea?_

Outwardly, she merely said, "Ugh."

"My thoughts exactly."

Several seconds later, Jane and DeMartino caught up.

"Well that's stupid."

"Officers are ALWAYS stupid."

Daria nodded in agreement. "That's why I never let them promote me past Sergeant. I was afraid of the lobotomy that they offered as a perk."


	9. What's With the Speech Impediment?

**Chapter 8 - What's with the Speech Impediment?**

It took the rest of the day to get the station established. Grey Team's first problem, aside from crossing the river while hoping that the bullsquids had already begun hibernating, was actually getting into the barn. The building actually had docks at two levels – a concrete bulkhead that appeared to have been used when the water level was low, and a wooden structure almost 20 feet above for the rainy season. A ladder running up the concrete bulkhead allowed them access to the ground level.

Inside, a crude staircase led to a loft, which itself contained a ladder that gave access to a small shed built on top of the barn. The shed housed controls for a crane anchored into the barn's roof, apparently used to help unload boats at the dock when the barn was still in use.

Daria dropped her pack on the floor and stretched. After she was satisfied that her spine wasn't going to jump out and strangle her, she turned to Jane.

"Alright. Get your rattle can and get to work."

Jane gave a mock salute and pulled a can of orange spray paint from her own pack before heading off down the ladder. Once on the lower level, she sprayed a bright orange circle, about two feet in diameter. Inside she painted a lowercase lambda to signify the building's new purpose.

When she returned up the ladder, she found Watts and DeMartino unpacking their lunch. Jane realized that they had walked straight through noon, and judging by the sun it was already three or four o'clock. She'd gotten quite good at guessing the time via the sun – her last watch broke several years before.

Daria had taken a cursory look around the building, and realized that despite the barn's complete inability to blend in, the little village in which it sat had been abandoned for quite some time. Only one road came in or out, and it had been destroyed as mother nature reclaimed the ground. All other directions involved climbing up the cliffs along the canal, making the trio of buildings quite safe. She guessed that the station was being established not just as a stop on the refugee evacuation route, but also as a possible Resistance base closer to the city.

The young sergeant had decided that there was no need to set up defensive positions while everyone was awake, and told the other two as such while Jane was downstairs painting.

Eventually, after everyone had gathered their rations, they moved outside to relax on the pier. Jane sat with her back against the barn, one leg hanging off the edge, with Daria next to her. DeMartino was several yards in front of them, his legs hanging off the dock as he bit into a ham and cheese sandwich that he appeared to be enjoying very much. Watts was lying down, being careful not to spill water on himself as he drank from his canteen.

Later, they would all remember it as the last real chance to relax before everything went to hell - again.

---------------------

Watts had asked for first watch. He wasn't going to sleep anyway. He hadn't had a full night's sleep since City 23, and hadn't gotten more than a few hours at a time since he'd arrived at N.L.O. For some reason he couldn't quite put his finger on, Watts found he just couldn't fall asleep. The nightmares about his sister had largely stopped more than a year before, and he wasn't particularly nervous about his new surroundings.

Currently he was lying in what was being called the crane shed. Several yards in front of him, a crate filled with the supplies they'd brought from the station hung in the air. As Daria had said, it seemed silly to look at, but it was currently the most secure location in the building.

His M25 sat in front of him, the barrel propped on a small sandbag, pointing out at the sky across the canal.

He'd been damn lucky to receive the rifle, and even luckier that it had a suppressor. It was the only semi-automatic rifle the armory had at the training grounds. He hadn't been the most accurate sniper recruit that day, but Watts had shown an ability to rapidly readjust between targets – to get off what some called the "clutch shot." In the end it had been enough for him to get the semi-auto over all the bolt-actions.

Watts hadn't sighted the weapon since he and DeMartino had fled City 23, so after everyone else had gone to bed, he'd fired off a single round at the opposite bank to make sure the sights hadn't been knocked out of alignment.

It was a _very_ good suppressor.

--------------------

_Jane walked the streets, surrounded by the bodies of Civil Protection officers. She felt the weight of her pistol in her right hand as she strolled along the sidewalk._

_She turned a corner and found this new street to be littered with the bodies of dead citizens. The sight didn't bother her – she'd seen Civil Protection and Overwatch line up people against the wall for execution. Hell, she'd been thrown up against the wall herself for an execution before._

_But these bodies were unusual. They had the same type of bullet wounds as the CP officers. But that couldn't have been right - she had shot the CP officers, and she was the only one she'd ever met with a .357 Magnum. No, that couldn't be right, that'd mean..._

Jane's eyes slammed open.

_Damnit_

She wasn't as good at telling the time at night, but Jane guessed that she'd been asleep for two hours based on the volume of Daria's snoring.

Jane concluded that like the night before, she wasn't going to get any sleep. She had asked for second watch anyway, which meant she'd have to wake up in two hours no matter what.

They had all set up their sleeping bags in the loft. At first glance it seemed that this decision was based on the height advantage this gave the team, but in reality it was because the loft was always in shadow, allowing them to look out at the surrounding landscape without being seen.

Jane crawled across the rudimentary walkway that had been laid across the bare rafters toward the crane shed's access ladder. When she reached it, she tapped twice on the floor above her before climbing up.

"Nightmares again?"

"Yeah," Jane replied as she sat down in the back corner. The little shed was small, and Watts was already taking up half the floor space by lying down at an angle to keep his rifle pointed straight out.

"Want to talk about it?"

She recalled DeMartino's advice from earlier in the day.

"Not right now."

"Want to be my spotter then?" Watts asked, holding a pair of binoculars out to the side.

"Sure," Jane answered as she grabbed the binoculars. Watts moved over, trying to straighten himself out in order to give her room to lie down and see out of the building. As she was squirming forward, Jane wondered if Watts was just trying to get her closer to him.

"Aren't spotters supposed to be trained snipers, so they can call out conditions and corrections accurately?"

"Yeah, but I can guarantee you'll be better than my last spotter."

"Who was your last spotter?" Jane asked, realizing too late that such a question might have painful answer.

"Didn't have one."

Jane broke into laughter.

"Man, this Resistance is really screwed, isn't it?"

"But Gordon Freeman is coming to save us!" Watts answered back with an obvious mocking tone.

The two got a good laugh out of that one. The legendary figure had better recognition than any religious idol.

"You know," Jane mused, "I always wanted to be a sniper."

"Why's that?"

"Your job consists of lying down and not moving for days at a time. Even on recon I only get to do that about... 12 hours a day, max."

---------------------

Daria yawned, noting to herself that it was the third time since she'd woken up and she hadn't even finished her first lap of the patrol yet. DeMartino had roused her from slumber just a few minutes before for her turn on sentry duty. She wasn't sure why, but she'd been happy to see that Jane and Alan were both asleep when her watch started.

She stopped to take a break, her head still not completely clear from waking up. There had been no nightmares and she hadn't woken up at all during the night, but Daria felt as though she'd had the most restless night of sleep that she couldn't remember. She concluded that she probably did have a nightmare. She'd never been able to remember them anyway.

Before moving off for her next lap of the barn, she bent over and threw her hair forward, making an effort to grab it all in order to make a ponytail. Her distant memories of Quinn played a voice in her head, chastising herself for choosing such a bad look. Daria kept the style anyway, finding a ponytail was much easier to control and keep out of her face while still being low-maintenance.

Daria shuddered at the memory of Quinn. She'd never be able to remember her sister again without recalling her death. She took a deep breath and physically shook off her feelings. Satisfied that she had recollected herself, Daria pushed off the wall to start her next lap.

And came face to face with a strange man.

One couldn't look at him without thinking the word "gaunt." His face looked as though the skin had been pulled just a little too tight around the skull. Perhaps stranger, he was wearing a blue suit and dress shoes, and carried a briefcase in his hand. But these details could be easily missed, as they were completely overpowered by his eyes. They were green, and conveyed a look that said they had literally seen everything that the universe had to offer and more, and they had not been impressed.

"Ahh... Missss Morgendorffer. You should not be here," the man said. His voice sounded as though he was uncomfortable with spoken language.

Daria raised her gun. "Who are you, how do you know my name, what do you mean I shouldn't be here, what's with the speech impediment, and how the hell did you get your hands on a suit and tie?"

"Right to the questions. You are most diff-erent from some of my other clients. They are... more willing to follow what they are told."

"You're not answering my questions." Daria clicked off her safety. The man before her hadn't made any threatening moves, but everything about him was setting off her survival instincts.

"You would not be satisfied by any answers I may give you. However, there are more pressing incidents at hand."

"What kind of incident?"

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say."

The man gave a smirk, and stepped around the corner. Daria followed him around, but found that no one was there.

_Did I just hallucinate that? But that doesn't make any sense. Why would I make up someone completely new for a hallucination, especially someone who obviously doesn't fit in. I mean a suit and tie? Really?_

As her mind raced, trying to figure out if something was wrong with her and if her team was in danger, memory threw up a card.

------------------------

"_I was a security guard there."_

_Daria sat across the table from one of the Resistance leaders. It had been a pretty big event, having one of the big-wigs passing through. Strangely, he didn't really seem like the commander type. The man across from her didn't strike her as sharply intelligent, but he did give off an air of someone who knew what it took to survive and fight back. His name didn't help with the intelligence picture, either – Barney._

_But he'd already taught her a lot about fighting that day, so she and Jane were happy to listen._

"_And you know what the weirdest thing was? It wasn't the aliens just portalling in. It wasn't the Marines that were trying to kill us. It wasn't even Gordon Freeman running around and somehow managing not to die despite doing pretty much all the work. It was this damn guy wearing a business suit and carrying a suitcase walking around as if nothing was going on. He honest to God looked like he was just there to audit the end of the world."_

_----------------------_

She ran back upstairs, waking up the other three. There were several curse words and other mumbled statements as her teammates woke up. Surprisingly, Jane was the first from slumber to coherence.

"Why is it still dark outside?"

"We've hit a snag, we need to get out of here. Sorry to ruin the vacation."


	10. Is That a Threat?

**Chapter 9 - Is That a Threat?**

After the initial retreat back across the canal, things calmed down quickly. Once they had scaled the shore and melted back into the reeds, Daria stopped the team to explain herself. It didn't take much convincing to get them to believe she wasn't hallucinating – apparently the stories about the man in the suit often accompanied the legend of Freeman.

Satisfied that she herself wasn't crazy, Daria split the team into two elements to watch the canal. Jane and Watts split off and covered the approach from the city, while she and DeMartino covered the opposite direction and the road entrance to the station. The split was unusual, with the two sergeants and two corporals grouped together, but she needed a chance to talk to DeMartino.

"Tony..." _Damn that feels weird, "_Screw it. DeMartino? Do you know what's going on with Jane?"

"Yes."

"Well?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

_What the hell?_

Daria rubbed her eyes out of frustration. "You do outrank her DeMartino, she can't order you not to tell me something."

"Yes, but she can do a damn good impersonation of Janet Barch, and that's just as effective."

-----------------

"Spot me?" Watts asked, holding out the binoculars.

"Sure," Jane replied as she grabbed them. "How the hell does spotting work anyway?"

"Well..."

Watts paused to collect his thoughts. He was used to having to make a mental downshift when explaining things to his fellow soldiers, but Jane seemed quick enough to understand him.

"...At the distances we shoot from, a spotter lying next to you can see the shot with negligible parallax. You can see the bullet impacts, while I can't because the kick from the gun is going to throw off my aim."

"So I just tell you you're about six inches to the left and you correct yourself on the next shot?"

"Kinda. We don't measure error in distance, we use angle. The little markings on the scope are based on angle, specifically milliradians. But that's kinda pointless for you, since the binoculars don't have them."

"Good, I always hated trigonometry."

Watts held up a hand. "Hold that thought. Can you get eyes on the sluice gate up the canal?"

"No, but I can look at it through the binoculars." Jane answered with a smirk. She looked in the direction which Watts was pointing his rifle and raised the binoculars up to her eyes. From here, she could see three people struggling along the bank of the canal. They each wore the blue denim outfits the Combine required citizens to wear. In the morning chill, constantly having to enter the water due to the steep shoreline, they were in serious danger of falling to hypothermia.

"I'll radio Daria," she concluded, picking up the radio. She tapped the talk button to send out a burst of static before speaking.

"Daria, there's three refugees coming up the canal."

A hundred yards downriver, Daria rolled onto her side to get a clear view toward Jane's direction. After checking with her binoculars, she caught sight of the refugees.

"I see them. Try to get their attention when they get closer, and tell them to get to the barn."

Jane hesitated before pulling out her Magnum. Lying next to her, Watts felt her weight shift to grab it from her holster, and remembered just how loud it could be.

"Hold on, use my USP. It won't alert the entire Northern Hemisphere."

She considered the option put before her, deciding that Watts was right. Jane re-holstered her gun, and immediately grabbed the USP from Watts' shoulder holster.

"Hey, no grabbing."

"I outrank you on this mission, _Probationary_ Corporal. I will grab whatever I want."

"Is that a threat or a come-on?"

The refugees were within earshot now, based on the fact that Jane could hear their splashing. She stood up and fired two shots in the air, catching their attention.

"Go for the barn!" She yelled, "There's supplies inside! We'll keep anyone dangerous off your backs!"

One of the refugees waved, either out of thanks or just to indicate that he understood. Seconds later all three were climbing the ladder up to the main level.

Alarms started to sound, a sort of electronic bleat that echoed across the landscape. Grey Team was well outside the grid of speakers set throughout the city for that very purpose, but even here the sound could be heard. Above them, the spire of the Citadel began to transform. Massive steel-blue panels large enough to accommodate several games of football at once pushed off of the flat surface and began to rise up the wall, exposing a ribbed structure underneath. Between the ribs thousands, possibly even millions of little black dots flowed out like water. From this distance it was impossible to tell if they were scanners – little more than hovering cameras – or massive gunships. All sense of perceived scale broke down in relation to the Citadel.

"God damn, I've never seen the Citadel lit up like that before." Daria commented. "Whoever they're after is seriously screwed."

"What if they're after us?" DeMartino replied.

"I swear if you just jinxed us, I'll kill you."

Their laughs were cut short when the roof of the barn imploded under the impact of a headcrab delivery pod.

--------------------

Back upriver, Watts could see that the dust had cleared enough to see the refugees inside. Two of the refugees had been knocked out by the impact, while the other was obviously too rattled to understand what was going on. She either didn't notice – or couldn't notice – the first of the headcrabs crawling out of the pod. Watts took aim at the creature, waiting for it to pause at the top to pounce.

The alien stopped at the rim. Watts took a breath, held it, and pulled the trigger. There was a sound akin to a a heavy bolt falling into sand, and the sight kicked back, throwing off his view.

"Two inches to the left!" Jane cried out.

_Damn damn damn damn DAMN!_

Watts quickly took aim at the creature again, taking care to adjust based on Jane's correction. He held his breath, and...

The headcrab lunged just as he was moving his finger on the trigger. It landed on the young woman, latching onto her face immediately. Every member of Grey Team could hear the screams.

Jane gagged, trying to force the knot in her stomach away. She felt a hand on her back.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, that just... You never get used to that."

The radio crackled to life with Daria's voice.

"Alan, could you put her out of her misery?"

"Yes ma'am."

Jane shut her eyes. She _really _didn't want to see this part. She waited for the sound of the rifle beside her firing again. Instead, on the edge of her hearing, there was a new sound. It sounded like...

"An airplane?"

"What?" Watts asked.

"Don't you hear that?"

Watts paused, listening intently.

"But the Combine doesn't have airplanes," he finally answered.

"Maybe a helicopter or a gunship then?"

"No, they making a thumping sound. This is more like a constant droning."

The sound suddenly picked up a little in volume, as Jane caught movement down on the river. She raised her binoculars, and saw...

"An airboat?"

-------------------

Daria was looking through her own binoculars, waiting to make sure that Watts shot the suffering refugee, when a burst of static hit the radio followed by Jane's voice.

"Daria, there's an airboat coming down the canal. The guy driving it is strange though. He's wearing this weird orange and black armor. It's got the Lambda on it."

She wasn't listening however. A man had just walked around the barn – the same man well-dressed man she had seen the night before. As the airboat passed by, he walked inside, and....

Daria dropped the binoculars, looked at the barn, and raised them again.

The man had simply vanished into thin air.

_That's enough of this then._

She grabbed the radio.

"Grey Team, this situation is FUBAR. We're moving out."


	11. Too Close for Comfort

**Chapter 10 -Too Close for Comfort**

It was much slower going trying to return. Combine soldiers seemed to be dropping out of the woodwork like termites in a burning house, and the zombies were getting riled up from the activity. Trying to avoid contact by circling around while still staying in fairly open areas to avoid a zombie ambush, Grey Team covered nearly twelve miles of ground, while only traveling six in a straight line. But now there were other problems. They were dangerously close to Ravenholm.

Watts and DeMartino could both tell it was getting to Daria, but she had refused to acknowledge it. Both had determined that they needed to ask Jane, but the group had stayed together during the retreat. Near sundown, they finally got their chance. They had set up camp for the night, and Daria had retreated into the treeline to relieve herself, taking several grenades and extra ammo with her.

DeMartino and Watts both down next to Jane.

"So," Watts began, "what's bugging Daria?"

Jane leaned forward, looking past her former teacher in the direction that her friend had left.

"Her mom and sister died in Ravenholm during a shelling attack. Sort of..."

"Sort of?" DeMartino asked.

Jane let out a deep breath before continuing. "It was just us. Jake and Trent died during the portal storms. Ms. Morgendorffer turned out to be really good at keeping us out of trouble, but we still ended up seeing a lot of people turned into zombies."

There was another pause as Jane had to recompose herself. "We were running for the mines, when someone stumbled and took Quinn down with them. Helen ran back, but there was already a headcrab – one of the fast ones – trying to attach to Quinn. While Helen was trying to kill it, another one got her. Then..."

Another pause, longer than the previous one.

"...Daria grabbed a gun from one of the bodies. She shot both of them in the head. She still keeps that gun as her sidearm."

--------------------

_She was standing in the street again, holding her gun._

"_Not again. Please, just one night of good sleep!"_

"_You don't get it do you?" a familiar voice called out from behind her._

_Jane turned, gun at the ready. In front of her stood..._

_Herself._

"_Yeah, you really don't get it."_

"_Get what?"_

"_You're evil. Just accept it."_

_--------------------_

Jane awoke with a start. Immediately, she found herself looking for Watts. It wasn't until after the disappointment of finding him asleep that she wondered why she went straight to him. A few seconds later, she found DeMartino was also asleep.

_Crap, it's only Daria right now. Guess I'll just have to wait it out._

She didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, she could hear the sounds of Ravenholm. In the distance, zombies howled. Interspersed between them were bursts of gunfire and explosions. Daria had obviously heard it too, because she quickly came back from her sentry patrol, pistol drawn.

"Someone has them riled up," Jane suggested.

"Probably. Whatever it is, it's too close for comfort. We need to go ahead and move out."

The two women woke up their teammates, and the group quietly packed up to leave.

--------------------

Daria had quickly decided that speed was far more preferable than being near Ravenholm, and had led the team straight to the railroad tracks. They spent the rest of the night diving into the high grass whenever they heard a train approaching- the only rail traffic now was controlled by the Combine. There was always a good chance that a train was loaded with troops and armored vehicles.

As the sun rose above the horizon, they reached a bottleneck. The terrain rose around the tracks, so that the trains were actually running through a trench. Unfortunately, the high ground provided no cover. After consulting the team. Daria decide to keep following the lines through the trench. There were service platforms just off the tracks, built into the concrete walls that could provide cover.

Unfortunately, just a hundred yards in they spotted a Combine patrol. The team moved behind an abandoned rail car to regroup.

Leaning around the corner, Daria held up a pair of binoculars to watch the patrol. They appeared to be covering the entrance to a mineshaft that opened directly onto a small loading dock adjacent to the tracks. Bullet impacts and a few dead bodies showed that someone had already been through and killed several of them.

"Okay, we're going to try to move up before we engage. Watts, can you find a good spot to snipe from?"

Watts ducked a head under the train car.

"The flatbed in front of this one looks like it would have a good angle. As long as I stay in the shade under the car I should be invisible."

"Alright. We're going to use the cars to move forward. Watts, you trail behind and set up where you need to. Once the three of us are in position, you start the assault by firing."

"But..." Jane started.

It was Watts who stopped her. "Not this time. We need as much power up front as we can get. If you stay back here and spot, we just can't throw out enough lead."

Daria's mouth was agape. She wasn't aware that Jane had been learning how to be a spotter.

_Is that what they've been doing all night? Why does Jane want to be a spotter? Is it to get close to Watts, or does she want to learn how to snipe?_

The Sergeant shut down that train of thought and filed it away for later.

"Alright then, let's move up."

The three crawled under the train car, followed by Watts. When he reached the flatbed, Watts stopped and slid his rifle over his head, propping the barrel on the rail. He wasn't worried about the patrol seeing his gun pointing out, as the angle of the sun kept the barrel in a shadow.

Several minutes later there was a muted burst of static on his radio. The rest of Grey Team was in position.

Walls lowered his head to the scope and examined the patrol, looking for anyone who stuck out as a leader. The uniforms were all the same, leading most of the Resistance to believe that the half-human soldiers had some sort of computer system sorting them all out.

After several minutes, he got his break when one of the soldiers tapped another and pointed towards the mineshaft.

_There we go._

Watts centered the sights on the commander's head, having adjusted them before going to bed. The wind was perpendicular to the tracks, making the air calm inside the trench dug for them. The sniper followed the commander with his scope until...

The commander stopped, signaling Watts to pull the trigger.

----------------

Daria was crouched behind the wheel of a flatbed car, looking at the patrol through the undercarriage when she saw blood and a greasy, black fluid burst from the soldier's head. Jane and DeMartino saw it too, and all three rose up to fire over the flatbed.

Her silenced MP7 was completely drowned out by the sound of DeMartino's unsuppressed gun. There was no way she could hear Jane's at the opposite end of the car.

Jane was trying to draw a bead on one of the soldiers in the rear. The one she had originally been aiming at was taken down by Daria and DeMartino's opening rounds. When she was finally satisfied that she was aimed correctly, she went for the trigger, and...

stopped.

_Come on, he's not human. He's not human. IT's NOT human._

Only her target remained now, causing Daria and DeMartino to concentrate their fire on him. He had ducked behind cover.

Between bursts in DeMartino's fire, Jane heard the sound of a safety clicking off behind her. She turned and looked up to see an Overwatch soldier standing on the edge of the trench, aiming down at her.

_I'm going to die I'm going to dieI'mgoingtodie._

Jane closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.


	12. I'll Probably be Dead Tonight Anyway

**Chapter 11 – I'll Probably be Dead Tonight Anyway**

After the initial shots, the remaining Overwatch soldier had retreated around a corner, taking him out of Watts' line of fire. The sniper crawled out from the car, keeping it between himself and the enemy. As he began to move forward, a gentle curve in the track afforded him a view of another Overwatch soldier coming in to flank Grey Team from the high ground.

Watts dropped to a knee and brought his rifle to bear, centering the crosshairs on the center of mass. He couldn't afford to miss this shot.

--------------------

Jane could still hear her teammates' gunfire when there was a _thump_ on the ground in front of her. Opening one eye, she saw the Overwatch soldier who was about to kill her lying on the ground. She was about to breath a sigh of relief when the soldier let out a groan, which sounded like static through his mask's speakers.

DeMartino heard the sound and immediately turned, ready for another threat. Seeing Jane crawling backwards away from a downed Combine soldier, he instantly leapt forward, knife at the ready. Using his weight, he jammed the blade in the soldier's skull.

Daria was faintly aware of the commotion to her side, but she was keeping her fire on the last soldier left ahead of her. In her periphery, she could see Watts moving up the wall of the trench. As he reached the corner, he pulled out a grenade and held it up for Daria to see. The Sergeant nodded her head, then resumed fire, taking care to keep it as far to the left as possible to avoid hitting the Corporal.

Watts yanked the pin, ducked his head around the corner, and rolled the grenade so that it would just pass the edge of the soldier's cover. He ducked back behind the corner and waited several seconds for the explosion. Upon hearing it, he drew his sidearm, and closed the distance to the former soldier's location to check that he was dead.

Satisfied, Watts turned and jogged back to the rest of Grey Team.

----------------

DeMartino had decided to wait before telling Daria about what had happened with Jane. At least until they could reach shelter.

Shelter came much sooner than expected. Just a few hundred yards down the tracks, they reached a parking lot. One of the buildings had the Lambda-in-a-circle logo painted by the door. Surrounding the door were a handful of bodies – both Combine and Resistance.

Daria knocked on the door, and was greeted by a man wearing the citizen-standard outfit.

"Oh good, backup. We were worried they were going to make another push after Freeman came through."

"Freeman came through here?"

"Yeah, he's responsible for most of those Combine bodies. Come on, let me take you to Leon."

The man took them through the base, past medics kneeling over crying patients. Eventually they came to a room with some electronics and other supplies stacked against the wall. In a low area – what appeared to have been a vehicle maintenance bay at some point – were several injured men and women, lying on bloodied mattresses.

Leon was at a desk, attempting to radio New Little Odessa, apparently without success.

Daria spoke up before their host could introduce them. "What's going on at NLO?"

"I don't know, I can't raise them on the horn. Freeman is headed in that direction though."

_You mean the same Freeman who, because the Combine followed him here, got a bunch of our guys killed?_

Instead of speaking her mind, Daria replied, "We're based at NLO. Do you have any form of transportation we can borrow?"

"Freeman took the only armed vehicle we had, but there's a truck out back you can take. Just don't go taking it off any jumps and it should survive."

-------------------

They had followed the same man – his name turned out to be Frank – to another parking lot. On the way, they learned that they were at Shorepoint, a Resistance base established in a former port. Apparently the team had followed the wrong train track, because Daria had intended to follow a line which led back directly towards Highway 17 as it exited the city.

As Frank opened the door, it was obvious which truck was intended for their use.

Watts laughed.

"Transportation of choice for freedom fighters since 1987!"

-------------------

DeMartino was driving, yet again. Daria had offered to drive originally, but upon climbing in she discovered it was a manual.

That had led to the embarrassing revelation that she was apparently the only person left in the world who _didn't_ know how to drive stick. Strangely, there had been no jokes from Jane about Daria's lack of a sex life.

The drive would have been mercifully uneventful if it weren't for all the destruction they had to drive through. Every house they passed had several dead Overwatch soldiers in the yard, dozens of dead Ant Lions, and often one or two dead refugees. The big surprise awaited for them on the road just outside the gate to New Little Odessa.

A Combine Gunship.

It looked like a headless whale or manatee that had its tail replaced with a ducted fan almost as large as the rest of its body. Two flippers with a striking resemblance to those on a humpback whale stuck out from the body, used as control surfaces. Like the rest of the Combine's weapon platforms, it blurred the line between organism and machine. It may have been some form of a life, living peacefully somewhere out in the universe until a Combine engineer saw one and decided "You know what would be great? A flying beluga whale with machine guns."

And this one was currently lying dead on the ground with huge parts of its body gutted out and the tail rotor completely destroyed. Around the camp, she saw her fellow soldiers kneeling over the bodies of their comrades. There were about half a dozen of the little huddle groups around the camp.

_God damned Gordon Freeman._ Daria thought to herself as DeMartino parked the truck inside the gate.

The four jumped out and headed to the briefing room, where they found Colonel Cubbage.

"I'm sorry to report a mission failure, Colonel. Station 7 was destroyed by biological artillery fire."

The Colonel was visibly dumbfounded. He shakily sat down in one of the room's chairs.

"Yes, yes, I heard over the radio. They said everyone at the station died. I thought Grey Team was among them."

"We evacuated prior due to... unforseen complications. The people who were killed were refugees who took shelter in the station during the alarm that was called yesterday."

"Ah yes, the alarm. As you may have heard by now, Gordon Freeman has returned."

Daria fought back the urge to roll her eyes.

"He just came through here less than an hour ago, saving us from that gunship. He is quite a soldier..."

Daria balled her hands into fists.

_How can they not see what's going on? Why don't they notice that there's more dead Resistance members out in the yard than we've lost in the last six months?_

"...Apparently, Eli Vance has been captured and sent to Nova Prospekt. Freeman was trailing him there. I decided I would send a team in as support once we managed to regroup..."

_And now Eli Vance, the closest thing the Resistance has to a leader, has been taken prisoner. Can the rest of them _really _be this stupid?_

"...I doubt he'll need the help however. Just look at what he's managed to accomplish so far!"

"FUCK GORDON FREEMAN," Daria yelled. "He's just some stupid little legend to keep kids from crying at night. We've survived, hell some of us have even _thrived _over the last ten years without him. And now, as soon as he returns, all hell breaks loose. I've seen more dead Resistance fighters in the last day than I've seen in the last two years. And none of them, NONE OF THEM, would have died today if it weren't for Gordon Fucking Freeman running from the Combine. So stop worshiping him like some sort of protective angel sent from heaven and blessed by the baby Jesus himself when the evidence right in front of your own god damned eyes tells you that he's the worst thing to happen to this resistance in years."

"Are you quite done, _Sergeant?."_

Daria stood to attention, still breathing heavily from her angry outburst.

"Yes, _sir."_

"Good, because you just volunteered to follow Freeman to Nova Prospekt, and provide backup if needed."

-----------------

Grey Team retreated to their barracks, having barely been granted a request to restock on supplies before moving on.

"Can you believe the fucking nerve of it?" Daria asked to no one in particular. "You all saw the bodies on the way here. How can anyone think Freeman returning is a _good _thing?"

"Just shut up, Daria," Jane finally answered.

"What?"

Jane shot DeMartino and Watts a look that said if they didn't leave the room within the next five seconds, they likely wouldn't survive. The two men retreated into the hall.

"You heard me. All fucking day you've been getting your panties in a bunch over Gordon Freeman. You give more of a damn about making sure everyone sees it the way you do that you haven't even noticed that I'm struggling over here. We used to be so connected, damn near telepathic, but you haven't said one word in three days."

"I knew something was wrong Jane, but Watts and DeMartino said that you didn't want to tell me."

"No. I didn't want _them_ to tell you. I wanted you to ask me personally what was wrong."

"Why? You know you can come to me with anything."

"No I can't, and you know damn well why. You're a Sergeant, and Sergeants are held by a stricter set of rules. I know you would break them for me, but I can't come to you directly for those kinds of things. I have to trust you to know something is wrong and _ask_ me."

"What the hell are you talking about Jane? What can't you come to be about?"

"Grant, damnit. I'm feeling guilty about shooting Grant."

Daria was dumbstruck. Jane's admission simply didn't make sense to her. "But you've killed people before."

"I've killed _Combine_ before, not someone with a face or emotions."

Jane sagged, the tension of holding her secret from her best friend finally released. She slid down the wall until she sat with her knees against her chest.

Daria, finally understanding what her friend had been going through for the last three days, sat beside her.

"There's another thing Daria. Today, when we were in that firefight... I couldn't shoot anyone. There was a soldier that came up behind us, and I couldn't shoot him either. I... I just tried to run away, but I was too scared to move. If Watts hadn't shot him, we'd probably all be dead."

Daria put an arm around her friend's shoulder, while her free hand held the side of Jane's face.

"Jane, I'm sorry. You're the closest thing I have to family... Hell, you ARE my family, and I let you down. I promise you, I don't care what it is you need, you can always ask me. Don't be afraid of me being demoted or kicked out of the Resistance, because if I had to choose between you or them, it'll always be you."

Jane managed a weak "Thank you," before finally giving in and crying.

----------------------

"Hey, Tony, right?"

"Yes?" DeMartino asked as he turned toward the voice.

"Here's your CD player," Paul answered, handing him a crudely fashioned steel box. The box held a CD-ROM drive scavenged from a computer. An old fashioned-toggle switch just above it was labeled "Power," while a small hole with an LED poking through served as confirmation of such. Bolted to the sides were two speakers.

"I used an external cable for power, because I didn't know what you'd be using it for. So you have the option of using it in the house, or in a any car with a cigarette lighter." Paul continued, holding up two cords in his other hand.

"Thank you very much. What do you want in return?"

"Could I borrow your CD's at some point? We're trying to store copies of any music and movies we can so they can be reproduced if we ever win the war."

"No problem, Paul. We're about to head out again, and I don't think I'll be taking them with me, no matter how wonderful this CD player is."

---------------------

Daria was still holding Jane when there was a knock at the door. Both looked up, their eyes completely prepared to kill with a stare.

Watts' head poked around the frame.

"Hey, um. Sorry, I need to grab something for DeMartino."

"Go ahead," the two women said in unison.

Watts quickly walked up to the cupboard and grabbed all the discs inside, and left in an equal hurry.

"And tell DeMartino that we're not moving out for another hour," Daria said as he exited the room.

----------------------

"Here you go, Sarge."

Watts placed the CD's down on a table in the middle of White Team's room. Paul's eyes immediately lit up.

"Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? REALLY? We have to listen to this right now."

Paul grabbed the CD and walked across the room to his own player. After putting in the disc and pressing the play button, he bent down and grabbed several bottles from his personal belongings. Walking back, he tossed a bottle each to Watts and DeMartino and motioned for them to sit down.

As the music started, DeMartino unscrewed the cap and was immediately hit with the strong smell of Vodka.

_What the hell. I could be dead tonight anyway._

All three men took a sip as...

"_It was twenty years ago today/Sergeant Peppers taught the band to play."_

DeMartino smiled. Yes, he might be dead by tonight. But now, RIGHT NOW, it was a damn good day.


	13. Nova Prospekt

**Chapter 12 – Nova Prospekt**

_I'll give Freeman credit for one thing. He's damn easy to follow._

Daria sat in the passenger seat of the truck as DeMartino drove down the beach. Highway 17 had taken a considerable amount of damage as the Combine had gone after Freeman. They'd nearly driven off of a destroyed bridge early on.

Broken bodies of several different species were scattered in the sand. Nothing had put up a fight on their drive. She was pretty sure there was nothing left to fight them.

Her arm rested on the window sill, causing more air to blow into the unusually warm interior of the truck. In the side mirror, she could see Jane in the back, a faint smile on her face.

_I'm going to need to have a talk with Watts later._

_-------------------_

"Hey, Alan," Jane said to her fellow passenger, "I just wanted to thank you for saving my ass... again, today."

"Don't sweat it," he replied with a smile, "you'll probably have plenty of opportunities to pay me back."

"It's not just the life saving though. Over the last few days, you've been a really big help, and you did it while respecting my wishes for privacy. You barely knew me, and you didn't have to do that."

"Like I said, we're fellow soldiers. I don't have a problem with doing anything to help you. That goes double now that we're friends."

-------------------

Eventually the beach became a daunting cliff, and Grey Team was forced to abandon their truck. They climbed the cliff face to get away from the sea – the salt water held several textbooks worth of ways to die horribly that had appeared since the portal storms – and headed off overland. As day began to give way to night, the glow of the searchlights from the prison ahead lit a considerable portion of the sky.

Nova Prospekt – New Perspective if translated literally – had been a maximum security prison before the Combine. Now, no one really knew. The Resistance had managed to get a few details out from captured Vortigaunts, who used their telepathic communication to relay as much information as they could to the outside world before dying in what their fellow aliens described simply as "horrible, painful ways that could not be expressed, even through telepathy."

They all suspected that Nova Prospekt was used to convert humans into Overwatch soldiers, taking out the emotional parts and using the body as a means of carrying and shooting weapons. Their failed counterparts – the ones who were too broken to work as soldiers – were turned into Stalkers. Stalkers were humans who had their lower legs amputated and replaced with a limited prosthetic, perhaps solely to keep them from running away. They had no hands either, though they were usually used for operating computer terminals. If they had to do any physical labor, it was handled with a sort of tractor beam mounted to their head.

It was believed, due to the starved looking nature of the few stalkers the Resistance had found, that they were meant as a cheap workforce that required no maintenance. A stalker would be made out of a failed Overwatch soldier, then put to work until it starved to death. The discovery of how Overwatch soldiers were created was the reason the Resistance had given out standing orders that any soldier in danger of capture should try to kill themselves, and that any team who could not rescue a downed soldier should euthanize them. Stalkers were the reason those orders were followed.

Quite a fun place, all around.

Grey Team had intersected Freeman's trail of destruction along the oceanside cliffs. They followed it for another hour, until Daria chose a bunker which had become unoccupied and ordered the team to pack it in for the night. Judging by the bodies of the Overwatch soldiers, they were several hours behind Freeman. She could have ordered them in to find him and provide backup, but at this point there was no guarantee he was alive. Daria wasn't going to give Gordon Freeman any help unless she knew he was still around to ask for it.

As usual, Watts pulled the first watch. The bunker provided a commanding view of the beach, and was only accessible by a narrow path. Unfortunately, it could not be shot out of. There was a shield barrier on the windows which prevented solid objects from passing through. Apparently the Combine had used remote controlled guns on the outside of the structure to fire at anyone trying to approach. Watts had eventually decided to just set position on the roof, which provided enough flat space to fire comfortably in any direction. The light from the shield barrier largely masked the ability to see the structure of the bunker itself at night, so he felt that he was safe from any eyes trying to approach.

Daria waited until Jane was asleep, which was unusually quick that night. Once the light snores began to emanate from her sleeping bag, Daria stepped outside and climbed onto the roof.

"Watts?"

"Yes Sergeant?"

"What's going on between you and Corporal Lane?"

Watts pushed himself away from his rifle and propped himself up on one elbow. "Didn't we have this conversation before?"

"That was before I found out she was learning to be a spotter and that she was feeling guilty for killing someone for the first time in her life."

"We were just talking."

"I don't believe you."

Watts sighed and went back to his gun.

"Apparently, she'd been on the night watch while you two were on a mission, and I had been doing the night driving when we were coming in from City 23. Neither of us could sleep, and there was no one else around awake, so we just hung out with each other. Then, after Grant, she couldn't sleep because of the dreams. I'm still messed up from driving around and getting in the odd nap or three at any time of day, so we kept it going."

"So you don't have a thing for her?"

Watts raised his head from the scope, looking off into the distance. Daria couldn't tell if he was thinking about what to say, or actually looking at something.

"I do like spending time and talking with her. In any normal circumstances I'd try to see if there was more to it. But she's dealing with a lot of crap right now and I don't think we could do anything without feeling like I'm taking advantage of her."

"Good," Daria replied, "because if you take advantage of her, I'll kill you myself. And I'm not even going into the fact that it's against policy for teammates to get romantically involved."

Daria paused, remembering how peacefully her friend seemed to be sleeping tonight, and the smile she'd had in the truck.

"...But I did promise Jane earlier today that I have no problem breaking the rules if she needs me to. So if she feels like it, I won't stand in her way. Just remember that I'll be watching you."

"Well now that's just creepy."

--------------------

_She stood with her gun at her side. Citizens and Combine alike littered the street._

"_Man, I can't believe you haven't figured it out by now."_

_Jane turned to find herself again. She raised her magnum to the copy's face. This time, she finally took in the details and noticed herself. The copy before her was much younger, back from when she was still in high school. She still wore the black shorts and leggings, the boots, the black shirt, and that red jacket. She had really loved that jacket._

"_No, I'm not evil. He was a bad man, he hurt someone and he got what was coming to him."_

"_Damn, even Daria has figured this out. DeMartino and Alan too. You're the only one still clueless on this. You ARE evil, Jane."_

"_NO!"_

_The world began to fade into white. Jane felt herself receding from her copy. As she drew further away, she became faintly aware of her body, lying in the sleeping bag and breathing. She could feel the pressure against her back, her rapid heartbeat against her chest._

"_Not so fast dammit," the copy said._

_Suddenly she was back in front of herself, being held by the collar._

"_There we go. You keep running off before I can finish. Stop that. And put the gun down, you already proved today that you're not shooting anyone."_

_Jane lowered the gun, but didn't holster it._

"_Now, you're evil."_

"_....Okay, you said that."_

"_I know, but you keep running off at that part, and I'm pretty sure you still don't really understand. You didn't become evil, you were born that way."_

"_What do you mean?" The original Jane asked._

"_Think about your artwork. Have you ever made something meant to show happiness that wasn't a joke with a cynical back-story? You paint death and destruction. It's part of who you are, and that's why it comes out on the canvas."_

"_But..."_

"_But you need to know that evil people can still tell right from wrong, that's how they know they're evil. What happens is a lot of evil people see right and wrong and realize that the wrong thing is the easiest. So they go out and murder their business competition, beat up hookers and steal money. They _know _that they're wrong, but they don't _care. _That's the kind of person that Grant was._

"_Now," the fake Jane continued, "You know right from wrong too, and you choose to do the right thing. Maybe it's because you were able to throw it out on the canvas or maybe it's because Daria was there to bring some happiness into your life, but you have always tried to stay morally correct."_

"_So if I keep doing the right thing, how am I evil?"_

"_I'm getting to that. Stop interrupting your subconscious, it's rude. Those images of death and destruction, your ease at becoming a soldier. You know you're evil because you're a natural born killer. The battlefield is your playground. Admit it, before Grant you liked the rush of firing a gun and getting shot at."_

_Jane thought to herself, keenly aware that this was all in her head and what felt like hours was probably only milliseconds._

"_Yes, I did enjoy it."_

"_Exactly. Now, here's the important part, and write this down because you're going to need to remember it in the days ahead. You're a killer. You're evil, but your desire to be morally right sets you apart. You kill people and you enjoy it, but you make sure to kill people who _are doing evil things for bad reasons._ You are, to put it simply, a god damned hero. And in the days to come its going to be people like you, and Daria, and DeMartino, and Alan, and even Gordon Freeman who are going to be the ones up front, saving the whole damn world. Have you got that?_

"_I'm going to save the world? I can't even wake up before noon."_

_The other Jane shrugged. "Maybe. You might all die. I can't see the future, I'm just trying to get you to stop moping around and understand who you are."_

_The world went white again, and Jane felt the sensation of being dragged back into her body. Just as her heartbeat reached the edge of her hearing, she heard her subconscious alter-ego call to her._

"_And remember, you're right where you need to be!"_

_------------------------_

Jane awoke to a bright flash from outside. She quickly snapped up to look out the window and immediately wished she hadn't. What she saw looked like the world ending all over again.


	14. Nuked

**Chapter 13 - Nuked**

Outside, Jane caught a glimpse of a giant mushroom cloud rising above her. The ground shock hit an instant later, knocking her to the floor. Before she could recover the air shock reached the bunker, blasting dirt and debris past the door at hundreds of miles an hour.

Inside, the bunker's window shields held, but the vacuum created by the wind threatened to suck them out of the open door. Each soldier grabbed on to anything they could find; weapon controls, computer consoles – and in one case, a foot.

After a few seconds, the wind died died down, prompting Jane to ask, "Is it over?"

"Not yet," Daria replied. She still remembered enough from old action movies to know what was coming next.

The wind returned from the opposite direction, roaring fiercely as it rushed to fill in the vacuum now left by the rising column of fire and ash. After several more seconds, it faded for good. The calm finally allowed Jane to remember something that she'd thought upon seeing the explosion.

"Alan! We have to get Alan!"

"I'm right here."

Jane looked up and realized the foot she was hanging on to belonged to Watts, who was sitting in a corner, holding on to the edge of a weapons console. She let go, and rushed to hug him.

"I thought you were still outside."

"I was," he said, patting her on the back, " but it was time for the shift change. It's nice to see you too, by the way."

Relieved, Jane finally realized what she was doing, and quickly let go of her fellow Corporal. She blushed, and tried not to look Daria in the eye.

Instead of firing off the joke that Jane expected, Daria focused on the mission.

"That's two failures in a row, I think. We're losing our touch," she said with a smile.

"Really?" Jane asked, "Nova Prospekt is gone, I'm going to count that as a success."

"Fair enough. There's no telling what kind of radiation we're being exposed to though, we need to get the hell out of here before it really is a failure."

They packed up quickly, while Daria checked outside for radiation using an old Geiger counter. The tool was useful for picking up the basic stuff, but Combine teleportation equipment emitted several types of deadly radiation which didn't even have a human name yet, let alone detection equipment.

When the rest of the team was ready to go, Daria led them back in the direction from which they had approached. Behind them, the mushroom cloud was still growing. Debris and ash in the head of the cloud still burned, bathing the ground in a dull red glow.

----------------------

They took the beach on the way back, trading safety for time as they hurried to get to the nearest Resistance outpost at Lighthouse Point. The Ant Lions were nowhere to be found. DeMartino guessed that the ground shock had caused the creatures to be crushed in their sandy burrows, or perhaps drowned by the high water table near the ocean.

When they reached Lighthouse Point, the mood managed to be both excited and somber. There was certainly much more activity outside than normal for an outpost in the middle of the night. Daria grabbed a passing Private.

"Private, what's going on here?"

"Didn't you see? Nova Prospekt is gone."

"Yes," Daria said, turning to look at the remnants of the mushroom cloud. "I can see that. Is there anything else?"

"Well," the Private looked down at his feet. "Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were inside when it went off. Eli Vance and Judith Mossman are still being held captive."

Daria remembered Alyx Vance. She was the daughter of Eli, and one of the best refugee escorts in the city. Hundreds of people owed their lives and freedom to her.

The mention of Judith Mossman's capture was also news to her. Mossman was a researcher from Black Mesa, who was helping the Resistance in creating teleportation technology in the hopes that it would make it easier to get refugees out of the city and into safety. Her loss wasn't a particularly crushing blow, as they'd been working on it for years.

Daria let the Private go, and walked off toward Lighthouse Point's namesake. The tower of concrete and brick was built out on a bluff, making it easily fortified. The entire lighthouse was an armory, holding thousands of bullets and hundreds of explosives. Halfway up the tower was a platform which held the outposts' administrative office. Inside, they found a man who looked quite familiar.

"Er," Daria stammered, "Leon?"

"Leon's my brother. I'm Ed."

"Alright, Ed. I'm Sergeant Morgendorffer, and this is Grey Team from NLO. We need transportation back to our outpost."

Ed searched a desk draw and produced a key.

"There's a truck in the garage of the westernmost building. Have a nice night, the Combine is too busy scrambling and trying to figure out what's going on that they've pulled off every patrol outside the city. It's smooth sailing down the Highway."

Now that was the kind of news Daria liked to hear.

"I will," she said with a smile. "Thanks."

---------------------

Daria stepped in through the back door of the garage, and flipped on the light. Behind her, Watts could see the truck through the doorway. He let out a chuckle.

"Man, this is just getting predictable."

Some of the letters on the tailgate had been scraped off, but they still read: "T YO A"

----------------------

Grey Team arrived at New Little Odessa around sunrise. By then, the happy atmosphere brought on by the destruction of Nova Prospekt had given way to sleep and hangovers. A slightly tipsy Colonel Cubbage was once again surprised to see them, having assumed they had been killed in the explosion. After a brief report, Grey Team headed upstairs and went to bed.


	15. Off Duty

**Chapter 14 – Off Duty**

Daria was the first to wake, when a very unlucky orderly was sent to retrieve her. After barely surviving the initial death glare, he informed her that Cubbage wanted to see her downstairs.

She didn't bother to clean up before heading down, fully aware that her hair probably looked as though a tornado had torn through a rope factory and deposited it on a Van de Graaff generator.

Colonel Cubbage was not hungover, owing to the quality of wine he had saved for any good news.

"Ah, Sergeant Morgendorffer. I was so happy to see your team return last night. You are starting to make a name for yourselves after coming back from the dead twice."

"I'd prefer not to die in the first place, sir."

"Rightly so. There are plans being made for a push to retake City 17, and I want Grey Team to be the spearhead."

Daria was suddenly much more awake.

"The current plan," Cubbage continued, "is to send in small surgical strike forces such as Grey Team to take lightly defended targets that the Resistance deems vital to success, such as train stations and comm relays. It is our hope that we can lay down an infrastructure for invasion by stealing it from the Combine."

"Grey Team is up to the task, sir."

"I thought so. It will take a few days to bring these plans together, Sergeant. I may need to meet with Team Leaders on occasion, but otherwise you're all off duty."

-------------------

Being "off duty" in the Resistance was very rare, and often correlated with being "really drunk."

This made Watts' day much easier. He'd had a plan for a gift to offer Jane, but it involved possessing a few things he didn't have.

The first he obtained from very drunk officer on Green Team, who'd agreed to trade it for a bottle of gin. He got the gin from Paul, who gladly gave it up as an extra thanks for DeMartino's music.

The second he got from the armory. It was just sitting there, having not been used in years. He got permission from Cubbage anyway, just in case. That part had taken quite a bit of explaining, as the Colonel had been annoyingly sober.

After some cleaning of both items he was ready to present his gift.

He found Jane in Grey Team's room, laughing with Daria about a girl named Brittany. This involved Jane gesticulating wildly, especially around her chest.

"Hey," he announced himself, "do you still want to learn how to be a spotter?"

"Yeah," Jane replied, still smiling from her conversation with Daria.

"You know spotters have to be trained snipers, right?"

"Uh, yeah," she answered, confused as to why she was already being shot-down.

"Well then, I guess we need to get to work."

Watts backed out of the room and grabbed something just outside the door. When he returned, he was holding a spotter's scope and an SVD sniper rifle. Jane's eyes widened at the sight of the gun. It had been a late model – with synthetic parts replacing the wooden handgaurds, giving the rifle a matte black color.

"Damn, was the Gatling gun too expensive?"

"They had a 50 percent off sale at the Costco."

-------------------

The two had walked out of the camp, heading down Highway 17 in order to to get an unobstructed view of the beach. They were followed by Daria, who had apparently taken more than a few sips from an offered Screwdriver when she'd found that all the orange juice had been taken from the mess hall for that very purpose.

The trio stopped about a quarter of a mile outside the camp, where a beached tugboat offered a target of opportunity. Watts decided it was as good a place as any to start the lesson.

"Alright, go ahead and get into a firing position."

Jane did so, lying down on the pavement with the gun pressed against her right shoulder, parallel to her body.

"Okay, you need to lie at an angle to the gun, so that your left arm isn't stretched out to support it."

"Don't lissen Jane," Daria slurred, "He's juss tryin to look at yer butt!"

Watts and Jane tried to put on serious faces, but quickly broke down into laughter. Both were learning quickly that Daria was an entertaining drunk.

"Now aim at one of the windows on the tug, but don't fire."

Jane lowered her head, closing her left eye and placing her right eye close to the scope.

"First off, this scope doesn't have any cushioning - so if you fired it right now, you'd shatter your eye socket. You don't need to be up close to see through it."

She quickly backed her head away from the scope, which suddenly looked much more solid than before.

"Second, don't close your left eye. You'll need the peripheral vision to scan for targets and threats. It also helps a little with depth perception, even with the other eye looking down the scope."

"I'm not doing very well, am I?" Jane asked.

"You're just making the same mistakes everyone makes. A lot of the time even the trainers don't correct them. I'm trying to keep you from getting those bad habits in the first place."

The lesson continued on to the optics, as Watts explained the range finder, elevation drum, and the windage correction. Occasionally Daria would chime in with a sex joke or to point out a double entendre. Upon learning about angle corrections, she blurted:

"Oh crap, Jane's no good at trig..trigano.... trignametry."

"Hey, I passed trig. Barely, but I passed it!"

Stifling a laugh, Watts instructed her to take out a window on the tugboat.

Jane went to work, first using the range finder to estimate how far away the tugboat was, and adjusting the elevation drum to compensate. There was no wind to counter, so she centered the window on the crosshair, took a deep breath, and fired.

Looking through the spotter's scope, Watts announced. "Good shot. Dead center. I was worried the sights were going to be off after sitting in the armory for so long."

"Thanks," Jane said with a grin. It felt good to get praise from Watts for some reason. "How did you get a spotter's scope anyway?"

"Green Team was using the extras for surveying, I paid a bottle of gin for it."

"Awww, that's so shweet," Daria slurred. "Already buying gifs for her."

-----------------------

The following day, while Daria was called in for a meeting, Jane decided it was time for more practice. She stepped out of her bedroom, and instantly heard music from the direction of White Team's barracks.

"_Some folks inherit star spangled eyes/Ooh they send you down to war, lord._

_And when you ask them, how much should we give?/Ooh, the only answer is more, more, more._

As she approached, she could hear DeMartino speaking above the song.

"...time I heard this song, we were on patrol in the river boat, and my Sergeant turns to me and says, 'Did you know they hate us, back home? They think we're thieves and baby killers. There's talk that they're spitting on us when we get back. It's fucking disgusting. They just don't get it, that they have a job too.'

"So I ask him, 'What job is that?' and he turns to me and says, 'Son, if you make it out of here, I want you to know one thing. It's a soldier's job to protect civilians from harm by killing the people who would harm them. But it's a civilian's job to protect the soldier by making sure their government doesn't send them into harm's way for no reason.' Oh, hello Miss Lane."

"Hey Mr. D." Jane answered from her position, leaning against the door. "I was hoping I could borrow Watts from you for a while. Unless that's not water you're drinking."

Watts caught a look from Paul that seemed to be both congratulatory and warning at the same time.

"So, practice?" he asked Jane.

"Yup."

The two collected their gear and stepped out, heading towards the same spot as the night before.

As they passed the gate, Jane asked her fellow Corporal, "Is there something going on here?"

"What do you mean?" Watts inquired. Inside his mind, he could hear Daria's voice: _Remember, I'll be watching you._

"I just feel like there's more between us than friendship, and I don't mean the teacher-student dynamic either."

"I get that feeling too."

"So what are we going to do about it?" Jane asked.

Watts paused, thinking of how to proceed.

"I am required by an unwritten agreement to let you do the decision making. Otherwise I risk death by friendly fire."

"Damn, Daria threatened you already?"

"Yup."

"Well if even she can see there's something going on, then I can't ignore it. Part of me is saying that there's a war coming, and that I'm already having trouble shooting people, and that I really shouldn't try to distract myself with a relationship right now."

"And the rest?" Watts inquired.

"The rest is screaming, 'There's a fucking war coming, you'll probably die anyway so go for it! You don't want to die single!'"

"That's a mean thing for your subconscious to say."

Jane stopped, grabbing Watts' hand.

"The thing is, I know I'm pretty messed up at the moment. I nearly got us killed because of it, and even though I think I'm better now, I can't be sure. I don't know right now if I like you because there's a real attraction, or if it's because I needed someone to latch on to when I couldn't talk to Daria about it. So..."

Jane looked at the man before her. He looked outwardly calm, but she could feel his hand shaking in hers from anxiety. She could feel her own hand shaking too.

"...The hell with it," she said, pulling him in closer. She let go of his hand, bringing her own up to hold his face as she closed in for the kiss. It was brief, but instead of breaking away she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling his arms holding her in a tight embrace.

"I really want to," she finally said, "But we really can't distract ourselves with what's coming up. If we survive though, I'm giving this a shot whether you like it or not."

"Well that's definitely something worth fighting for," Watts replied with a smile.

-------------------

They returned to camp an hour later, having destroyed every window on the beached tugboat. As they walked in the gate, they noticed the commotion as Resistance soldiers poured out of the woodwork, gathering around the truck Grey Team had returned in. Colonel Cubbage stood on the tailgate, waiting as they group assembled.

Jane and Watts found Daria and DeMartino near the back, and rushed to join them.

"What's going on?" Jane asked, before she was silenced by a hand signal from Daria. Colonel Cubbage was getting ready to speak.

"As you know, two nights ago Nova Prospekt was destroyed. In the process we lost our dear friends, Alyx Vance and Gordon Freeman. Alyx was a wonderful woman, and a good soldier. I know some of you here today owe that fact to her. We all, of course, owe our survival to Freeman.

"But we must remember that we survived for ten years without him. Our Resistance has even thrived in his absence. And it is because of this, in his final act, we have been given a gift. We have been shown that the Combine is not invincible. They can bleed, they can be cut off, and they can be defeated.

"Tomorrow we begin the invasion of City 17. We will hunt down the Combine in their own home. We will free the citizens trapped under the weight of their oppression. We will show our brothers and sisters in cities around the world that this planet is still ours, and we will not stop until the Combine is no more! Tomorrow, we WILL retake Odessa!"


	16. New Tricks

**Chapter 15 – New Tricks**

"Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad plan?" Jane asked to no one in particular.

Grey Team was lying in the reeds by the train tracks. The plan for insertion was simple - grab a ride on a passing train and take it straight into the city. From there, they had three possibilities. If they were lucky enough to grab a train headed directly to their target – a train station by the river – they would have to wait inside the station, possibly for several days, until they received the go-signal.

If they were unlucky, they'd have to walk across the city while keeping their weapons hidden and avoiding checkpoints until they could reach the rally point – a designated building that would be used as a staging area for the pre-invasion strike teams.

If they were _really_ unlucky, they'd all be killed long before then. But at least Nova Prospekt was no longer a possibility.

Daria finally answered, "If you know a better way to sneak enough firepower to bring down a small nation into City 17, I'll be happy to listen. Actually, I lied. I won't be happy."

"If you were happy about anything, I'd be even more worried."

They'd been lying there for hours - so far only troop transports had passed by. In the distance they could hear the horn of an approaching train.

"Jane?" Daria inquired.

"Hold on," she replied. Jane was watching the train through the spotter's scope, attempting to identify its purpose in time to board it. Behind the thin, almost blade-shaped engine, she could see old fashioned passenger cars.

"This is it," she answered. "It's a civvie transport."

She packed the scope into a duffel bag, which already held her SVD, MP7, and Magnum. The rest of the space was filled to the brim with ammunition.

Her team members had duffel bags with similar contents. Each had an MP7 submachine gun and a USP sidearm. Daria had added in an AK-47, while Watts kept his M25 sniper rifle. DeMartino had an M1014 shotgun and, unbeknownst to Daria, his CD player and collection.

They waited until the lead engine passed before standing. Speed was not an issue, as Daria had chosen a location just before a sharp bend. The turn allowed the cars to block any view of them from the engine, and forced the train to slow down to just over running speed.

Jane, the natural runner, sprinted ahead of the team. It would be her job to to help them climb on if they needed it. She easily intercepted the rear car, throwing her bag over the railing before jumping on herself.

Seconds later DeMartino did the same, much to Jane's surprise.

"I'm not too OLD to learn new tricks, Miss Lane."

The two braced themselves, ready to grab hold of their teammates. Daria and Watts caught up after several seconds. They handed off their bags before jumping for the railing. Jane and DeMartino stood ready to assist, but their two fellow soldiers were able to grab the railing and jump on board without help.

They all grabbed their bags as Daria took the lead. Each had taken care to find a citizen's uniform which fit them so they could blend in to their fellow passengers. Luckily, the rear car was empty. All four sat down, waiting for the next step in their plan.

"Well," Daria started, "that was the easy part."

--------------------

The most difficult part of a citizen's life was the train station. Travel occurred only by permit, and even authentic papers were far from a guarantee of completing your journey without imprisonment. With Nova Prospekt gone, the threat of being turned around at the gate to a straight train ride to the prison had been eliminated. Unfortunately, every train station still had interrogation rooms, and they were getting a lot more use in the past several days.

The train came to a halt in the terminal, allowing the team to disembark. As Grey Team disembarked, a scanner flew in to photograph each of them as they walked into the central building. Above them, on an enormous screen mounted high on the wall, Dr. Wallace Breen, administrator of Earth and string puppet of the Combine, was giving his canned greeting speech to the new arrivals.

"_Welcome, to City 17. You have chosen - or have been chosen - to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban centers. I thought so much of City 17 that I elected to establish my administration here in the Citadel so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors. I have been proud to call City 17 my home. And so whether you are here to stay, or passing through to parts unknown, welcome to City 17."_

It always annoyed Daria that the speech began and ended with the same statement. She was fairly certain that it was carefully engineered in order to break people down through repetition.

Inside the station, their fellow passengers were working up the courage to continue forward. The next step was to pass through the station's security checkpoint.

Outside the checkpoint, they each glanced at the arrivals and departures board, which notified them that they were not at their target. Grey Team would have to pass through security while carrying enough firepower for an entire squadron.

Thankfully, there were no metal detectors or baggage searches. The Combine didn't bother with security, using checkpoints more as a matter of randomly selecting people to torture and convert into Overwatch soldiers. One didn't even need a permit to disembark safely – it was assumed no one would be stupid enough to board a train illegally, given the small chance of surviving even when obeying the law.

Grey Team joined the line outside the security checkpoint. Ahead of them, a woman was directed to a second gate, which opened into a small hallway lined with doors. The doors were made of heavy metal, with a small window that slid open.

"No! I have a permit! I was ordered to transfer, there must be some kind of mistake!"

A Civil Protection officer emerged from the hallway, struck her with a stun baton, and dragged her unconscious body into an interrogation room. Daria was next in line.

The officer guarding the initial gate looked at her, then waved her forward with the baton. She was being allowed to pass.

Watts and DeMartino were then waved through without trouble.

As Jane stepped up to the gate, the officer looked her over. He – or it – stepped back and pointed her towards the gate the unfortunate woman had been dragged through.

"Officer, she's with us," Daria protested.

"No," his electronic voice replied through his face mask's speakers. "She isn't."

"Go on ahead Daria. I'll catch up later."

Jane could see the look on her friend's face. Daria looked as if she had just been shot. Beside her, Watts was balling his fists. DeMartino's hand was inching towards the zipper on his duffel bag.

When the CP officer turned to ask why they weren't leaving, Jane fired off a look toward her friend. It was just a smirk, just a tiny pull at the corner of her mouth. But over a decade of friendship filled it with information. As the CP officer turned back around to push her towards the interrogation room, she saw Daria give an almost imperceptible nod confirming that she understood.

Another CP officer stepped out of the interrogation hallway, ready to drag her off if needed. Jane didn't protest, and followed him. She could see blood seeping from under some of the doors.

They reached the end of the hall, where the officer opened a door on the right. Inside sat what looked like a dentist chair made of metal. Broken arm straps and dried blood on the floor testified to what it was used for. High on the wall beside a computer console was a window opening out to ground level. Above her head hung a security camera, ready to record whatever happened to her. Somewhere, she imagined some alien scientist studying data on human reactions to torture.

"Sit."

Jane obeyed, dropping her bag in front of the chair and sitting down.

The officer shut the door behind him, locking it and sliding the window closed. He then turned and knelt by the duffel bag.

_This is it._ Jane thought, _This is do or die time. If I don't kill him, he'll kill me. He might kill Daria and Alan and Mr. D. I have to do this._

The bag opened, revealing her stock of ammunition. Instead of sounding the alarm, the officer stood.

"You didn't really think you'd get away with this, did you?"

"You know," Jane smirked, "It'd be stupid to say 'yes' now, wouldn't it?"

"You're not going to be so funny when I'm done with you."

"Oh, you're definitely not going to be laughing, trust me."

Jane lunged forward, pulling her combat knife out of a sheath hanging from her shoulder. The officer didn't even have time to react before the knife plunged through one of the eye sockets in his mask.

_And that's the hard part over with._

The officer didn't scream. Instead, an automated voice, which echoed from the speakers outside, notified everyone in the area that an officer had been killed.

Jane sprung into action, pushing a filing cabinet in front of the door. She tipped it over so that it jammed between the interrogation chair and the door, preventing the possibility of it simply being shoved out of the way. She then zipped up her duffel bag and ran to the window, which she shattered under the tip of her knife. Jane did her best to clear out the broken glass, but she was sure that she would be getting a few cuts before she made it through.

Outside, she could hear Daria yell, "Jane?" The rest of the team was by the window, having heard it shatter. She threw the bag through the small opening, then grabbed the offered hands and allowed herself to be pulled through.

Finally free, Jane stood and inspected her shirt. It had a few good gashes across the stomach, but her skin was barely scratched. The standard-issue denim jacket covered it well enough when she zipped it up.

Daria grabbed her friend in a hug. "I thought I lost you."

"It'll take more than the Combine for you to get rid of me, amiga."

"I'm glad to hear it. We need to get out of here, and you know this city way better than me. You lead."

Jane opened her mouth to acknowledge the order when a side door to the station burst open, spewing forth several CP officers. Jane immediately grabbed her bag and took the lead, ducking off into an alley.

Behind her, she could hear the heavy pounding of her friends, weighed down by their luggage. She could also hear the clapping of the officers' boots further behind.

She hit an intersection with another alley and took a left, immediately jumping over a low wall into a small yard. She heard a gunshot from behind, but the lack of screaming told her it missed. Jane hit the ground hard, rolling to keep her momentum. She cross the yard in just a few steps, and vaulted up a small staircase leading back to street level.

She sprinted across the empty street, looking both ways to see if there were any other officers standing around to take up pursuit. There was another alley, just up the street. She crossed the road and ran into it, hopping over a wall into another low yard. Instead of continuing, she dropped and backed herself into the wall, unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out her 0.357 Magnum.

Just a second later, her three teammates vaulted the wall and did the same. They waited, listening for any sound of pursuit.

After what felt like hours, they all started breathing again. Watts put an arm behind Jane's neck, using his hand to tousle her hair.

"I was worried I lost you too, by the way. And that was before I nearly lost you trying to follow you through those alleys."

Jane smirked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I'm not going to let you get out this that easily."

Watts suddenly looked concerned. "And how do you feel about.... you know?"

Jane first thought he was trying to make a pass at her, but quickly realized he was talking about the CP officer in the interrogation room.

She also realized that she hadn't stopped smiling since she'd given that smart-ass remark before stabbing him. The adrenaline was still flooding her body, along with a cocktail of hormones that had her feeling ecstatic while she'd run through the alleys, changing directions and navigating by instinct. The ancient parts of her brain inherited from when her ancestors were still food for lizards fired away, making her feel more alive than she had since first joining the Resistance.

"Pretty damn good, actually."


	17. Seriously, Why Do We Have Reunions?

**Chapter 16 – Seriously, Why _Do_ We Have Reunions?**

Jane led the team through the city, weaving along the ancient streets. While she did know the layout better than anyone else on her team, the constant changes in checkpoints and the ever-expanding wall around the Citadel meant they had to constantly reroute.

That damn wall. It was pretty much the one thing they had no information on at all. No one outside the Combine understood its purpose. It slowly walked forward, destroying anything in its path with its massive weight. But whether it was just a method of destroying the city or if it was actually gathering raw materials was beyond their knowledge.

There had been a few more short chases, but Jane's use of back alleys and unlocked basements had been extremely effective at both avoiding and losing any attention. By the end of the day, they hadn't even registered enough attention to be mentioned on the city-wide alert system.

After almost six hours of weaving through the city, they reached the rally point. It was an old warehouse, abandoned shortly after the Seven Hour War. Jane took them in through a back alley, where a door was hidden by a piece of sheet metal chosen to blend in to the rest of the wall. She pulled it open and knocked out a quick, five note tune that signaled who she was.

The door opened, but she couldn't see who opened it. The lights were out inside, covering the doorman in darkness.

"NLO, Grey Team arriving," Daria said from behind her.

"Daria? Jane?" the shadow said.

The voice had deepened with age, but Jane recognized it instantly.

"Mack?"

"That would be correct. Come on, follow me."

Grey Team passed through the door. As the last one in, DeMartino pulled the sheet metal camouflage back into place. Mack took them up several flights of stairs to a small office tower that had been built in the center of the warehouse, presumably to watch over its former employees. Inside, several dozen Resistance members were chatting while they prepared their equipment.

"Jodie, look who I found!"

"Oh my god!"

Jodie stood up from her seat at a table, where she had an M16 broken down, ready to clean. She ran to Daria, grabbing her in a tight hug.

"It's uh... nice to see you too, Jodie."

"I'm sorry," she answered, letting Daria go. "It's just that we were starting to think we were the last people left from Lawndale."

"Hey! What about me?" Another voice from a corner of the room asked.

"...Except for Charles."

"Oh god," Daria muttered.

The man who walked up bore some resemblance to the Charles Ruttheimer she and Jane remembered. The acne had mercifully cleared up with age, and the red hair was much shorter, but the biggest change were his eyes. Everyone's had changed to some extent, losing almost every sign of hope and replacing it with anger, despair, or sometimes a sort of manic happiness found only on the far side of insanity.

Charles' eyes had lost their ability to make him look sleazy, always examining every woman he saw and formulating a bad pickup line. Now they conveyed both loss, and a sense of purpose.

"Hi Daria, Jane, Mr. D." he said, offering his hand to Daria. After a brief pause, the she shook it.

There was an awkward silence as Daria tried to figure out how to proceed. Her trained response of instantly insulting him was obviously not appropriate for the situation. Thankfully, Jane broke the silence with the age-old tactic of changing the subject.

"So, you guys are still together?" she asked, nodding her head toward Mack and Jodie.

"More than that," Jode replied, holding up her hand, allowing everyone to see the ring on her finger. "Seven years, in case you were wondering."

One by one, the new arrivals congratulated the couple, until Jane asked; "So what are you guys doing here?"

"We..." Jodie began, "I mean Shorepoint's Red Team, is supposed to take a comm station near the Citadel, so that Charles can try to override their radio signals. He gets to give the go-signal for the rest of you."

"Wow Upchuck," Daria exclaimed, mentally kicking herself for using his old nickname, "You've really moved up in the world."

"That I have Sergeant Morgendorffer," he answered, examining a piece of Combine electronics.

-----------------

The sun had set several hours before, taking the available light in the warehouse with it. But in a corner office, shut off from the rest of the building, one light still shined.

Below it, Charles Ruttheimer was at work, a soldering iron in his right hand.

He considered himself lucky. At the age of 28 he had run the gamut of life's experience. He'd found a job he loved to do, even if it only paid him in the continued ability to live. He'd fallen in love, too. And he'd lost her. But that was years ago, and he'd long been able to accept it and be thankful for the time they'd had together. Some people would have said he kept fighting out of revenge, but in reality he just wanted to make the world the way she and everyone else had wanted – without the Combine.

"What are you working on, Charles?"

He looked up to see his former history teacher at the door.

"I'm building an interface that will allow us to broadcast live using Combine equipment. Basically a microphone jack that works with Combine technology."

"So you're going to be the one relaying information to us in the field?"

"Yes sir."

DeMartino smiled. "Then I have a favor to ask you."

--------------------

It was still night when Jodie came in to wake him up. He'd fallen asleep at the desk after finishing the audio converter. He'd had to do a little preparation for DeMartino's favor as well, but it had been a simple snip and solder job, barely a blip on his radar.

Today was the day, Charles realized. If everything went well, in a few hours he would be the voice of humanity, giving a verbal middle finger to their oppressors. He reached for his pocket, ready to grab a picture of the woman he'd lost years ago.

Charles took a deep breath, and stepped outside into the street.


	18. The Same Old Song and Dance

**Chapter 17 – The Same Old Song and Dance**

Grey team huddled in their own corner of the warehouse. Around them, teams prepared for the day ahead, getting ready for their assaults. Everyone had the same plan of approach to their target – get in as close as they could disguised as citizens, until they were caught and forced to fight through.

Daria could feel herself shaking from nervousness. When she was younger, it had been a habit born out of her fear of dying. When she'd learned not to fear death anymore, it had become the fear of losing her best friend. As she had been promoted, it was compounded with the possibility that her mistakes might be the reason for that loss.

Her teammates were varied in their own emotions, to say the least. DeMartino stared straight ahead, with an almost serene look on his face. He'd disappeared the night before, heading off to somewhere else in the factory. Her teacher had already saved her life once, so she didn't question what he did in his off time.

Jane and Watts sat next to each other, leaning against a crate. Their Sergeant couldn't see it from her angle, but they were holding hands. Amazingly to most, and predictably to Daria, her friend was asleep; her head resting on Watts' shoulder. Watts himself was using his free hand to load ammunition into extra empty magazines that Jodie and Mack's team had given them.

Daria leaned her head back and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.

_They're all good soldiers. They trust you because you've proved yourself to be worthy. Just do your best, and you'll all make it._

-----------------------

They'd almost made it. They were just two blocks from the old apartment building which held the communication relay when they'd been stopped for a baggage check.

Jodie and Mack had refused, and the squad of five soldiers ran for a nearby alley. It bought them just enough time to unpack their weapons, and take down the Civil Protection officers as they entered the alley in hot pursuit.

It took another five minutes of dodging through alleys and basements to reach the building as CP officers were called in for backup. Luckily, they'd all been stationed at the comm relay, leaving it lightly defended.

Mack had led the way as they stormed through the building, shotguns and MP7's at the ready. There was little Resistance as they climbed the stairwell, quickly reaching the top floor.

Only three CP officers were manning the relay. One was desperately radioing for backup, while the other two were kneeling behind an overturned table, pulse rifles at the ready.

The pulse rifles were nasty weapons. They fired energy pulses that behaved much like ballistic projectiles, only far more painful thanks to the extreme temperature of the projectile itself. As a secondary firing mechanism, it launched a pulse capable of vaporizing organic materials. As a side effect, it ricocheted wildly off of inorganic materials, making them a terrifying weapon when used indoors.

Mack kicked in the door and immediately stepped aside as a burst of fire hit the wall across the hallway. Beside the door, Jodie primed a grenade and tossed it in. They could hear one of the Combine officers scream, "Shit!" be being cut off by a sharp explosion as the HE grenade detonated.

Mack swept the room, finding all three officers dead. He turned and signalled Charles to come in.

"Get to work, we're probably going to have company soon."

"Roger that, Mack Daddy."

Mack rolled his eyes, but didn't speak. Mack Daddy had become a nickname among his soldiers, thanks to Kevin. He had complained at first, but Kevin eventually earned the right to it in his eyes. Unfortunately, the former quarterback hadn't lived to know it.

Charles ripped a panel from the front of the communications console, and used his knife to cut and strip several wires inside. He placed the device he'd finished the night before on top of the console and twisted the wires around pins he'd soldered in for that very purpose.

Satisfied with his work, Charles went back into his bag, pulling out a microphone and a small steel box.

----------------------

Daria was pacing the floor in anticipation. Unlike the other teams, they would not be proceeding in disguise. Their route was an immediate flag that they were going to be up to no good, so hiding their weapons was useless. They all wore their guns, pistols in their holsters while their MP7's and main weapons hung from their shoulders. Ammunition already loaded into the appropriate magazines sat in pouches hung around their waists.

A burst of static from the city's speakers announced that something unusual was about to happen. Seconds later, they could hear Upchuck's voice.

"_Attention, this is Shorepoint Red. All teams, go."_

The warehouse immediately burst into action as teams grabbed their equipment and headed toward doors at different points around the building. Grey Team began to ascend the stairs inside the interior office tower. As they moved, Charles continued speaking.

"_Citizens of City 17: the end of the Combine is at hand. Soon forces throughout the city will converge upon the Citadel, ready to drive the alien oppressors off of our planet. If you are unarmed, remain in your homes. If you have weapons, you are free to join the fight, but we urge you to wait until you meet friendly forces._

_Please stay tuned, as we will be relaying further information as it becomes available. Until then, I leave you with a request from a devoted listener."_

There was a second burst of static , followed by several seconds of silence until the familiar sounds of a guitar could be heard. Soon a second, higher pitched guitar came in.

Daria stopped. She hadn't heard it since high school, but the notes raced through her mind, igniting the emotions she'd felt the day she first picked up a gun and headed off to die. She turned to look at DeMartino, who wore a smile so wide that he was baring his teeth.

"Is that your doing?" she asked.


	19. Big Damn Heroes

**Chapter 18 – Big Damn Heroes**

Jane rolled through the door onto the warehouse roof, in the hope that if someone did shoot, it would be aimed for the upper half of her body. As she completed the roll, she came up onto one knee with her MP7 shouldered and swept the area. No contacts.

The rest of Grey Team piled out behind her, and all four ran towards the edge of the roof. Over the speakers, the lyrics of DeMartino's request were beginning to play.

_"Ooh, a storm is threatnin'/My very life today"_

They reached the edge of the roof. One floor below them, a pedestrian bridge linked to a building across the street. Jane jumped down, rolled onto her shoulder, and took off across the street. Below her, she could see one of the other teams disappearing around the corner. Three thumps behind her announced the rest of her own team was close behind.

_"If I don't get some shelter/Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away"_

The route to their train station was the long way around, but if Jane remembered the city correctly, they could make it all the way to the station without touching the ground. There would be a few harrowing jumps between buildings, but the alleys were narrow enough not to worry about clearing them.

She reached one such alley, and vaulted off of the rim of the roof. Fifty feet below her, she could see a Combine officer looking up at her. The next building was the same height as the previous, making the landing easy. Once again, she heard her teammates landing behind her, followed by several gunshots.

_"War, children, it's just a shot away/It's just a shot away."_

Jane didn't stop, continuing on to the next building. There was no need to stop until the Combine caught on and starting taking to the rooftops – or sent a gunship. As she ran, the song kept playing, teasing the back of her mind. Rooftop upon rooftop passed underneath her feet, occasionally dropping off to an alley below before immediately rushing back up beneath her toes.

They continued at a running pace for half an hour, stopping every few minutes to sweep the area and look for threats. Their luck finally ran out three miles from the rally point, when a roof-access door burst open in front of Jane. Instantly, she dropped to one knee, her left leg sticking out in front of her for balance. Before she hit the ground, her MP7 submachine gun was shouldered and aimed at the doorway, ready to fire.

A heavy black boot planted itself on the ground just outside the door. Recognizing the uniform it would belong to, Jane opened fire, causing the still-moving CP officer to run directly into her bullets. DeMartino slid to a stop beside her, while Daria and Watts ran wide to the right, circling around the roof until they were in position to rush the door. Jane paused her fire, allowing them to move in.

As Daria reached the opening a burst of fire shot out of the stairwell, pinging off the door. She ducked back around, primed a grenade, and rolled it inside, shutting the door behind it.

"KEEP MOVING!" She shouted over the explosion.

Jane reset the safety on her gun, and launched herself into a run.

------------------

"Charlie, we've got some news from Daria you might want to send out."

Mack offered a slip of paper to Upchuck, which held a written note. After reading it, he looked up and said, "Alright, thanks."

Upchuck stopped the CD player, switching the input to his microphone.

"Attention all teams, Combine forces have been spotted using the rooftops. For those on the ground, keep an eye to the sky and beware those silhouettes on the skyline. Stay safe out there, soldiers.

"And now, back to the music with Jefferson Airplane."

-------------------

The next engagement came just three blocks later, when Jane spotted a contingent of Overwatch soldiers waiting for them several buildings ahead. She signalled the order to stop and drop to cover. Daria and DeMartino took cover behind a disused air conditioner, while Jane and Watts stopped behind the roof access stairway.

Daria pointed two fingers at her own eyes, the pointed towards the enemy soldiers as if she were firing a gun.

"Your shot, Jane." Watts said. As Jane shouldered her rifle, he unclipped the spotter's scope from his belt, and looked around the front of the stairway door.

"Which one are you going for?" he asked.

"I'm thinking we go left to right."

"Roger that."

Jane found the left-most soldier in her periphery, and brought the scope to bear. She lined his body up in the range finder, and adjusted the elevation drum to the correct distance.

"Wind is about three coming from the left."

At this distance, the wind correction had her aiming just beside the soldier's left ear. Using the slanted roof of the stairway access, she steadied her aim and fired. The sound of the rifle cracked across the rooftops.

"Head shot. Next target."

She adjusted her aim to the next soldier, who was running for cover. They had heard the shot, but didn't know where it had come from. He was running almost directly away from Grey Team. Jane fired again.

"Head shot. The last one knows we're here. He's behind that air conditioner."

Jane searched for the air conditioner in question. It was raised about a foot off the ground, and she could see the soldier's feet underneath it. She took aim at the rear foot, which was obviously being used to balance him in his kneeling position.

"Nice, he's down. Go for the kill."

She obliged with a shot to the head.

"We're clear. Good shooting."

She clicked the safety back on her rifle while Watts went to clip the spotter's scope back on his belt. As he felt the carabiner hook into the scope's mounting point, Watts heard a foot landing heavily on the door beside his head. Before he could react, it swung open, knocking him to the ground.

Jane was still holding her rifle by the barrel, sliding it back over her shoulder to hang on its strap when she heard the door burst open, followed quickly by Watts exclaiming, "Fuck!"

Time slowed down for Jane as her body supercharged itself with adrenaline. She was on her feet in an instant, unslinging the rifle that was still in her hand. She stepped up to the corner that Watts had been spotting from, and swung the gun around like a baseball bat. The butt of the four-foot long rifle caught an Overwatch soldier in the face, knocking him on his back. As the rifle rebounded off his skull, Jane let go of the barrel, causing the rifle to spin around neatly in the air. Her right hand reached for her Magnum in its shoulder holster, which she grabbed so quickly that she still had time to catch the rifle by the stock in her left hand. Automatically, she flipped off the safety on both guns.

The soldier she'd hit was still down, but definitely alive. Jane pointed the rifle at his head and fired, point blank. She then stepped around the corner and brought her Magnum to bear on a second Overwatch soldier that had just passed through the door. His back was turned as he aimed a pulse rifle at Watts. Jane shot him in the back of the head, then turned to the open door to find a third soldier rushing up the stairs. She didn't have time to aim, so she went for the center of mass and hit him in the stomach. The enemy soldier fell backwards down the stairs as she shut the door and used her feet to push one of the bodies in front of it, hoping to keep anyone else from coming up to the roof.

"Are you okay?" she asked Watts.

Watts rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself up on his fists. As he stood, he touched his fingers to the corner of his mouth, and found it to be bleeding. He looked at Jane, who had blood splattered across her shirt, still holding both guns up.

"You're my god-damned hero."


	20. Radio Free Wasteland

**Chapter 19 – Radio Free Wasteland**

"Hey Charlie, here's another message for you."

"Thanks Mack."

Upchuck grabbed the note, and soon found himself laughing. He turned to Mack just as the man was leaving the room.

"Mack, I think I need a favor from you."

"Sure thing, what is it?"

"This is a request for a song," Upchuck said, holding up the note, "which I don't have. I get the feeling that our little time-waster between broadcasts is turning into something much bigger, and I think we should really to keep it going. So we need to come up with a system of getting more music."

"Okay, I'll talk to Jodie."

--------------------------

Daria had decided to move much slower after their close call. They could hear gunfire sporadically erupting around the city, although all of it was still behind them. Grey Team was now the unofficial spearhead of the invasion.

They had just stopped for an area sweep when "Fortunate Son" came to an end and was replaced by Upchuck's voice.

"_Citizens of City 17, this is DJ Charlie broadcasting from our ever-popular undisclosed location. No news to speak of right now, but I have an announcement. It's getting pretty obvious just how popular our little program is becoming, and now we need your help to keep it going. If you happen to run into any of our teams out there, hand off your music and requests and they'll find a way to get it to us."_

"That was unexpected," Jane said.

"It's understandable," Daria replied, "music and radio has always reflected the mood of the populace. City 17 is telling the Combine in so many words that they're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Right DeMartino?"

"Damn right," DeMartino answered. "And I think I know a way to get Charles all the music he needs. Hand me the long-range radio."

--------------------

Paul was packing his equipment in preparation for his own objective when Colonel Cubbage stepped into White Team's barracks.

"Corporal Morris, it seems that there is a special situation which requires your expertise to resolve."

"What do you need me to do, sir?"

"It appears that our initial strike team has started broadcasting music across the city, and they've begun to get requests for songs. The top brass were keen to shut it down in the interest of security, but the effect on morale has been enormous. We need the music you've been collecting to keep it going."

Paul grinned. He'd been told more than a few times that his project was a waste of time.

"Not a problem sir."

---------------------

Grey Team reached the train station an hour later.

"That is far more Combine than I expected," Daria observed.

Below them, dozens of CP officers milled about in a plaza in front of the station.

"Okay," Daria began, "I don't see any artillery. So you two try to eliminate as many as you can while DeMartino and I guard your backs."

"We can't snipe from here," Watts said. "It's too exposed. We need to go inside."

Daria accepted the advice, having overheard some of lessons on sniper-specific stealth that Watts gave to Jane. They retreated to the opposite side of the structure, entering the building via the fire escape.

Inside, the building was empty. Either nobody wanted to live near the train station, or the Combine had cleared them out. Watts grabbed Jane by the shoulder.

"Remember, stay back from the window you shoot from, and try to cover the other windows to increase the shadows."

"Gotcha," she answered with a nod. "Daria, you cover my ass."

They split off, heading to separate floors and opposite ends of the building. Jane took the lower floor, almost directly in front of the train station's main door in order to have less angle to compensate for, while Watts stayed up high and to the right to set up a crossfire for anyone trying to stay in cover.

When Jane found her room, she found all three windows were already broken out. She and Daria pushed abandoned wardrobes in front of the two side windows to block out the sunlight entering the room.

Jane then dragged a table in front of the middle window, setting it about five feet back from the exterior wall. Satisfied with its position, she stacked several books on the tabletop to use as a barrel support. The raven-haired sniper then knelt behind the table, and sighted out the window. Knowing there would be little difference in range between her targets, she sighted on the door to the train station and adjusted the elevation of her sights.

Daria stood beside her, facing the apartment's entrance. There was a burst of static on her radio, followed by DeMartino's voice.

"Watts wants me to relay that he'll be taking the first shots. Don't fire until they've gone for cover."

Jane nodded in understanding as Daria confirmed the message. Her unsilenced rifle would give away their position after just a few shots. She shifted her focus to her left eye in order to scan the plaza more effectively - a skill she'd picked up very quickly, once she understood that it was quite a lot like focusing through a window.

Seconds later, an officer standing in a shadow near the edge of the plaza dropped. Thanks to his dark uniform and location, none of the others noticed.

_Pick off the ones that no one else can see first, _Jane thought to herself. _It'll mean less people shooting back at you when they figure it out._

To punctuate her recollection, another officer dropped as he was walking behind a large statue commemorating a long-forgotten war hero.

Unfortunately, an Overwatch soldier who had seen him disappear behind the statue soon realized that something was amiss when his comrade didn't reappear on the other side. The black-clad trooper started to dash across the plaza to check when he was knocked backwards by a bullet to the neck. Very quickly, the dozen or so officers and soldiers left dove for cover.

Jane picked one near the station doors and fired. Immediately, all attention was in her direction. Soldiers and officers aimed toward her building, and a few even fired off a few bursts from their weapons. Fortunately, they weren't sure exactly where she was, and most were directed to the floors above her.

She saw another soldier drop from Watts' fire, and she quickly picked off an officer who had been kneeling next to him.

Now they figured out what floor she was on, and began firing on the windows to her room. The shots that weren't directed at the outer two windows flew harmlessly above her head, putting pockmarks in the ceiling.

_They'll think you're right up against the window, and aim for the center or higher. Just shoot the ones farther out, who might actually have the right angle on you._

Jane found a soldier who, from her angle, was almost up to the bottom of the opened window sill. She shot him in the upper chest, not sure if she could aim for his head without glancing off the window frame. Scanning, she found that another officer had gone down while she was aiming. There was another she couldn't find, but she dismissed the absence and aimed for another target.

_Only six left now._

She heard a burst of from Daria's MP7 as the missing soldier tried to enter the room.

_Five left, then._

None of the remaining enemies managed to run for safety, nor mount a counter-attack. The lack of cover and the crossfire quickly took care of the rest. As the last soldier fell, DeMartino radioed in.

"We're coming down."

"Roger that," Daria answered. "We're in the apartment with a dead CP Officer by the door."

"Interesting," DeMartino replied, punctuated by a burst of static as he let go of the talk button.

-------------------

After regrouping, Grey Team dashed across the plaza and around the side of the train station. There, they found an energy barrier blocking access to the side entrance.

Energy barriers were difficult to cross under normal circumstances. Fortunately, they were designed to allow Combine personnel to pass through unheeded. Therefore, Daria deduced, prohibited access could be granted by laying a dead Combine soldier across the barrier.

DeMartino dragged in the first body he found, and carefully rolled it so that it lay partially across the energy field. He then tested Daria's theory by poking his gun through. It passed without any noticeable resistance. Grey Team quickly stepped through, each holding their breath and expecting a quick and excruciatingly painful death.

"Well," Daria mused. "That was anti-climactic. Now comes the hard part."


	21. Celebration Cake

**Chapter 20 – Celebration Cake**

"Charlie, we got someone from NLO that says he might be able to help you."

Upchuck didn't bother to turn to the private, instead opting to yell over his soldier; "Send him up, then!"

He was still busy, trying to sort out requests between songs he had and songs he didn't, when the help arrived.

"Corporal Ruttheimer? I'm Corporal Morris from NLO White Team. We've had a project running for the last few years, trying to collect music and movies for safe storage."

Upchuck turned to face the newcomer, stunned at the information that had just been given to him. Finally, he managed to reply.

"You have to be fucking kidding me. I can't be that lucky."

"I suppose I could always take it back."

"God no," Charles replied, staring intently at the computer the other Corporal was carrying. "Find a convenient plug and let's get that thing going. I've got over a hundred requests here."

--------------------

Grey Team stood by the door, as Daria gave one last overview of the plan.

"Room by room, floor by floor. It's a train station, so there's bound to be big open spaces and grand staircases and all that fun classic architectural bullshit. Be constantly on the alert around balconies. If we find a staircase, we're going straight to the top and working our way back down. If you have any questions, feel free not to ask them."

Jane and Watts, having only MP7's for interior work, took up position on the sides of the door, making them the last to go in. DeMartino stood in front of Jane, shotgun out and ready. With everyone in position, Daria kicked in the door and spun around to the right, avoiding any possible gunfire. When there was none, DeMartino rushed through the door, shotgun pointing forward.

He had stepped into an empty hallway, with only one open door leading to a stairwell. As he started upwards, Daria came up on his left. The formation was simple – DeMartino would have the shotgun forward, taking down anyone who entered the stairway ahead of them. Daria would be on the left, near the railing, to keep an eye above them and engage anyone who might try to shoot down the stairwell. In the rear, Watts would be cutting down anyone who tried to pursue them. Finally, in the center, Jane would be checking in every direction and providing extra firepower to everyone.

They reached the top without incident, and stepped out onto the roof. A quick sweep showed no enemies waiting for them, and only one other stairwell. Daria ordered Jane and Watts to check the train yard, while she and DeMartino covered the two entrances. Trying to find a safe spot to cover the door, she eventually settled for standing on top of the slanted section of roof. Across the building, she saw DeMartino had the same idea.

After several cracks from Jane's rifle and presumably several shots from Watts, the two snipers returned.

"I don't think we'll find much of a fight inside," Jane said. "Judging by how disorganized they've been it seems like the normal station guards got unexpectedly called into sentry duty before we killed them."

"Alright," Daria replied, "we'll still need to go room by room. Let's move out."

-----------------------

Upchuck shuffled his sorted requests. He wouldn't need to figure out which ones he did and did not have anymore.

"Ladies and gentlemen of City 17, this is the one and only DJ Charlie, and do I have some good news for you! Thanks to a _very _generous contribution from Corporal Paul Morris, I've got more music than I or any of you know what to do with! And so it's time to get to work on these requests I've had piling up all day. This first one goes out to Sergeant Aron, Red Team says thanks for kicking Combine ass!"

-----------------------

Grey Team swept the building, floor by floor. Thankfully, the main hall took up nearly half of the building's space, and reached from floor to ceiling. Along with the open ticket offices, train terminals and cafeteria, very little of the building was actually taken up by cramped offices and hallways. They met no resistance until they entered the main hall.

Unfortunately for the remaining Combine soldiers, Grey Team had reascended to the upper floors before entering the hall. A grenade and several bursts of fire from their MP7's were enough to end that problem.

"This seems far too easy," Daria finally remarked as the rest of her team procured ammunition and weapons from the bodies. "But I'm not going to complain. Watts, Jane, go grab any ammo you find on the bodies outside. DeMartino, barricade the entrances."

The three soldiers nodded their confirmation and headed off to carry out their tasks. Grabbing her long-range radio, Daria began to ascend the main hall's central staircase. It was a standard affair found in any building that wanted to look stately – a wide central section that split off at two right angles. Stopping on the landing halfway up, she called in her mission's success.

"Shorepoint Red, This is NLO Grey. Mission success."

"Hey Daria," Upchuck's voice replied. "Good to hear. Anything further?"

"Yeah, there was suspiciously little resistance. Do you know anything about that?"

"We're getting reports like that from around the city. By best appearances it looks like they're retreating to set up better defenses around the Citadel. Even the big targets outside of a two mile radius only have minimal defenses."

"Well, I definitely can't complain about that. Can you get an ETA on when our engineers are arriving?"

"Sure thing."

There was no reply for several minutes, during which the rest of Grey Team regrouped, having finished their assignments. Daria sent Jane and Watts back to the roof for spotter duty.

Soon, Upchuck's voice came back on the radio. "Cubbage says they'll be there within the hour. All rail traffic has stopped, so they're driving straight down the tracks."

"Thanks Charlie."

"No problem, Daria. Got any requests for the radio? Maybe an insult for old time's sake?"

Daria allowed herself a Mona Lisa smile. "I'll get back to you on that."

Outside, she could hear the speakers playing.

_When you tried to kiss me/I only bit your tongue._

_When you tried to get me together/I only came undone._

Daria switched the radio back on and pushed the talk button. "Very funny, Upchuck."

"Hey, it was actually requested by someone else. You're not the only Daria in the world, you know."


	22. Easy Listening

**Chapter 21 – Easy Listening**

An hour later, Jane was sitting in a corner on the roof, scanning the streets and rooftops for enemies. A movement caught her eye, far down the train tracks. She shouldered her rifle, using the scope to get a better look.

It was a truck, loaded with resistance members. Jane grabbed her radio and told Daria the engineers were arriving.

She then turned and yelled to Watts, on the opposite side of the building.

"Hey Alan! You were right!"

"About what?!" he yelled back.

"It's a Toyota!"

"AHA! Pay up!"

"I'll pay up when you give me that damn pizza you promised!"

"What's that about pizza?" Daria's voice came from the ground below.

"What are you doing out here?" Jane asked her friend.

"My psychic abilities told me that if I went outside I'd get free pizza. I didn't believe them at first because all the pizza stores have been closed for ten years due to an alleged alien invasion, but they've never steered me wrong before. Just like that staticy voice that told me Green Team was almost here."

-----------------------

The truck came to a stop next to the train platform, allowing the soldiers in the back to step onto level ground. Daria spotted Lieutenant Anders, the commander of NLO's Green Team, and snapped off a salute. Anders returned it.

"Lieutenant Morgendorffer, I'm here to get the trains back online. In the interest of security, you are in absolute command."

"Um," Daria answered, "Last time I checked I was a Sergeant."

"Check again," the newcomer said with a smile, holding up an extra set of insignias. "Colonel Cubbage thought this would clear up the confusion on who was in command, and he also wanted to add that he should have done this a long time ago."

"Go Daria!" Jane's voice called down from the roof.

-----------------------

Within hours, Green Team had learned how to monitor rail traffic and operate the trains. It was all an automatic system, with no conductors. In the interest of communication, it was determined that a member of Green Team would go out with each train to ferry in soldiers from outside the city. After relaying pickup coordinates through the DJ formerly known as Upchuck, they sent out several trains for the first pickups.

The first team of soldiers to arrive were conscripted into the station's defenses. Afterwards, teams were sent out to strengthen forces throughout the city. They were directed by Upchuck, who was receiving news on which teams were having trouble reaching their objectives.

And through it all, the music played. It had been remarkable how quickly the station caught on. For the first few hours, the requests had all tried to convey a message. Disdain for authority, calls to uprise. Soon, they just changed to songs people wanted to hear for the hell of it. Shout outs to fellow soldiers, dozens of requests to play "our song," and more than a few people asking someone out. There was even a marriage proposal set to "White Wedding."

That night, Upchuck found Paul's computer contained a copy of Network, and played the famous Howard Beale monologue. He'd been ecstatic to hear the city around him erupt into cries of "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

At the train station, Jane and Watts were sitting on the roof. Snipers from Bridgepoint Red had taken over for them at nightfall, allowing them to go off duty. Below them, they could hear DeMartino yelling out the window.

"I'm mad as HELL, and I'm not gonna take it ANYMORE!"

How he managed to still convey that every few words were being yelled even harder was anyone's guess. The man was better at yelling than any drill sergeant could ever aspire to.

After laughing and joining in themselves, Watts and Jane sat back down, holding hands.

"I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, but nice shooting today," he said.

"Thanks," Jane answered with a smile.

"And of course thanks for saving my ass on that rooftop."

"No problem. I still owe you one more, anyway."

"Where did you get the idea to let the rifle spin off the guy's head?"

Jane grinned sheepishly, using her free hand to pull her hair back behind her ears. "I didn't plan that. I just let go of the rifle to grab my pistol, and I still had enough time to catch it."

"Well, may I just say that was the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen?"

Jane's face changed to the mischievous smile that Watts found he really enjoyed seeing. "You may."

"I take it you're feeling better about Grant, then?"

Her eyes wandered as she searched for the right words to say. "You could say I sort of had an epiphany."

"An epiphany?"

"Yeah. Just before Nova Prospekt blew up, I had a dream where I was having a conversation with a copy of myself. She claimed to be my subconscious, and told me I was evil."

"Your subconscious is really mean to you, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it hasn't necessarily been wrong so far, and there was more to it than that. She.. or I, told me in no uncertain words that somebody has to do this, and that I'm already pretty good at it, so it might as well be me. And if you'll remember, it was my subconscious that told me I don't want to die single."

"Well I can't complain about her too much then, can I?"

"I wouldn't," she answered with a wide grin. "She's a bitch."

Jane moved the hand he was holding above her head, pulling Watts' arm around her. She let out a sigh, and leaned in against him.

"You know, I can barely remember my life back then anymore. There's just fleeting memories of stuff that just really doesn't seem important now. Trying to get into college, high school drama, boys..."

"Boys?"

"Heh. Sorry. But really the only thing I have left from that life is Daria. I suppose now I've got Jodie, Mack, DeMartino, and even... Upchuck back, but I was never exactly close to anyone besides her and my brother."

"Don't get me wrong," Watts said. "I like learning more about you, but nothing you've said sounds like there's anything bad going on."

"I guess I just feel like my old life is really dead and gone. I was an artist. I wanted to paint and sculpt things for a living. But now? I'm a killer. I'm a professional killer and I _like_ it. Can I really say I'm a better person now?"

"You wanted to be an artist?"

"Yeah. See? I've known you for a week and a half now, we're practically a couple, and you didn't even know I want to be an artist. Ten years ago you would have to have been brain dead to have not figured that out within minutes."

"So you've found yourself. You're not an artist, you're a soldier."

Jane rested her head on his chest. "But was all that time painting and sculpting and... welding all for nothing?"

"No."

Expecting more, Jane waited for several seconds before asking, "Were there more pearls of wisdom or is that all I'm getting?"

"Hobbies and passions come and go. That's just part of life. What you need to ask yourself is are you where you need to be?"

Jane flashed before her own eyes, wearing that red jacket.

_Remember, you're right where you need to be!_

"I suppose I am," she responded with a hint of disgust.

_It'll be people like you on the front lines, saving the world..._

_...I don't know, you might all die. I can't see the future._

"Jane? Janey?"

Jane snapped back into reality.

"Um, could you not call me that? My brother used to call me Janey."

"Sorry, you just kind of spaced out for a while."

"It's okay, I was just remembering something. It's not important."

She put an arm around his waist. "We haven't done a very good job of holding off until after this is all over, have we?"

"Does that bother you?"

"Not really. If we weren't doing our jobs well, Daria would have had both our asses already. She's pretty big on professionalism, even when it comes to our friendship. I suppose she just does that to keep me safe."

Jane leaned her head back and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for being patient."

Watts raised an eyebrow at this comment. "It's only been three days."

"Really? Damn, it feels so much longer than that."

Behind them, in the plaza, a speaker crackled as Upchuck prepared to speak.

"_Just a little update before our next song, folks. In just sixteen hours, the Resistance has claimed over half the city. Combine forces are falling back everywhere, and have been mostly confined to within a one mile radius of the Citadel. Preliminary estimates put us at a staggering eighty-to-one kill ratio. Attempts at counter-attacks using gunships have been largely foiled thanks to an extensive RPG net surrounding the Citadel..."_

In the distance, Jane and Watts could see a rocket streak up into the night sky, which soon exploded. There was a chain of secondary explosions as the gunship it struck ripped itself apart.

"_However, our top brass wish to remind you that despite today's success, we still have a long road ahead of us. Stay on your toes, soldiers. That goes for you too, citizens. And now back to the music. Private McCoy, Blue Team says to keep stabbin'. I don't know if that means you're good at hand-to-hand combat or just very disturbed, but either way I'm glad you're on our side."_

Seconds later, the song started.

"_Uptown got its hustlers/Bowery got its bums_

_And 42nd street got big Jim Walker/He's a pool shootin' son of a gun."_

"You know," Jane said, tapping her feet with the beat. "All day I've been hearing music, and aside from the times when I was shooting people, I really wanted to dance."

She stood up and set her guns down on the roof. Now unburdened, she turned and grabbed Watts by his hands.

"No guns. I've never danced with guns before, but I assume they detract from the experience."

Watts removed his weapons and took her hand, following her several feet away to a more open piece of rooftop.

"You never struck me as the dancing type," he said.

"I never was, really. But for ten years I've spent every day scared that I was going to lose everything. Today, with you, I realized there's a hell of a lot more to life than just wanting to survive. And right now, I want to dance."


	23. Almost Finished

**Chapter 22 – Almost Finished**

Jane woke up to a cold breeze on her face, instantly reminding her where she was.

_Guess we fell asleep on the roof._

Her vision saw the world slowly rising and falling several inches as her head rested on Watts' chest.

"I hope you used protection," she heard Daria's voice say from behind her.

Jane rolled over, revealing her Magnum in its holster. "Yup."

Daria's eyes went wide. "Hold on, I was just joking. You didn't actually..."

Jane rolled her eyes - Daria had obviously missed the joke. "Suppression field, Daria?"

"Oh, right."

Below them, the ground began to rumble. It was faint at first, but built up in intensity until it was impossible to ignore. Watts shot up, instantly awake.

In the distance, the Citadel was moving. The enormous sliding doors on the spire were opening, spewing forth thousands of aircraft.

Jane grabbed the spotter's scope from Watts' belt and sighted in on the Citadel. It was still difficult to see details at this distance, but the profiles were a mix of gunships and troop carriers. They were all spiraling around the tower, slowly climbing.

"They're trying to get over the RPG net," Daria recognized. "They're counter-attacking."

The new Lieutenant jumped into action.

"I want every sniper inside, now! Take a window and get ready to eliminate any Combine you see! I want the rooftop doors barricaded so they can't come in above us! Guards and barricades on every ground level entrance! Everyone else on the second floor, ready to shoot down on anything that gets close to the building! Go!"

Around her, soldiers began packing up equipment and running to their new positions. As they started to move, Daria stopped Jane and Watts.

"Look after each other. I can't lose you," she said, looking to Jane.

------------------------

Mack burst into the radio room.

"Charles, the Combine made it past the RPG net. They're attacking all over the city. We may need to leave in a hurry."

Upchuck looked at the room around him. Outside the single window, he could see gunships flying across the city, skimming the rooftops. He disconnected the computer, which was in the middle of playing _"_Radar Love."

"We can't leave, Mack. It's our job to warn everyone, to relay news so that the Combine can't hide. Without this station, the whole plan could fall apart."

"You want to stay then? Another last stand for old time's sake?" Mack had a smile on his face.

"Yeah. Another last stand."

Mack nodded and exited the room to prepare their defenses. Upchuck turned to the mic, thinking of what to say. After several moments of intense thought, he switched the microphone on.

"Citizens of City 17. As you are aware, the Combine is mounting a counter attack. Now, more than ever, we cannot falter. Show our oppressors what humanity is made of, and let them know that if they wish to defeat us, they should be prepared to lose everything. More reports to come as they we receive them. Good luck."

---------------------

Grey Team's two snipers had taken position in an office on the upper floor. Jane began to pull a desk into the middle of the room when Watts stopped her.

"No need. We've got enough firepower pointing out of this building to keep them distracted. Just take a window."

She did so, taking a window to Watts' right. Outside, she could see three troop transports descending into the plaza. Daria's voice burst in on the radio.

_"Do not fire until you can hit a soldier. You can't invade a building with an aircraft."_

The transports had turned to face away from the building, keeping themselves between the structure and the disembarking soldiers. Eventually, they broke for cover.

_"OPEN FIRE!"_

The building erupted into a cacophony of gunshots as Jane spun to point her gun out the window. She sighted in on a running soldier, but he went down before she could fire.

_Why couldn't it have been over? We were winning dammit!_

She sighted in on a second soldier, and managed to hit him in the upper back.

Above her, there was a thump as a transport landed on the roof.

_We were so close to finishing. So close._

_---------------------_

Outside the window, Charles could see another transport landing on an apartment building across the street. He could hear constant gunfire from below, slowly coming closer. Mack entered the door with a worried look on his face.

"Charlie, we're not going to be able to hold them off."

Upchuck nodded. "Buy me some time, I have something I need to do."

In the hall, Mack joined Jodie behind an overturned table. Cries on the radio told them the Combine were just one floor down. Using his left arm to keep his gun pointed forward, Mack put a hand around Jodie's shoulders.

"I'm really glad I have you," he said.

----------------------

The Combine had made it through the rooftop barricades, but Daria had planned for it. As the enemy soldiers descended the concrete stairs, spotters at the bottom of both stairwells set off charges, collapsing the staircase underneath them. Falling concrete smashed into the stairs below them, forcing them to collapse as well. When the dust settled, the only way into the building from the roof would be to rappel.

On the second floor, Daria was firing her AK-47 into a squad that had managed to regroup by the front door. Beside her, DeMartino was aiming at another squad trying to work their way around the building to the side entrance.

Behind them, in the lobby, an artillery shell crashed through the roof and embedded itself in the floor. Instantly, several soldiers surrounded it, ready to eliminate its alien cargo.

"Keep up the pressure!" Daria yelled to those around her. "They're not getting in today!"

----------------------

Outside, Charles could hear Jodie and Mack open fire.

_This is it. This is how it ends._

He took a deep breath, and grabbed the microphone.

"Citizens of City Sevent.... No, that's not right. Citizens of Odessa! I'm afraid that my time as your faithful DJ is coming to an end. As I speak, Combine forces have breached the building and are working their way upstairs in an effort to silence this station.

"Before that happens, I want to ask you for a favor. I want you to keep fighting. I want you to stand in front of our enemy and tell them you will not roll over and die! Today, humanity stands together in the darkness and screams that we are not afraid! That we will use every last bullet, every grenade, every weapon down to our teeth and nails to kick their sorry asses off our planet! Fight back! Tell them that we will not be defeated!"

The gunfire in the hallway stopped. Charles heard heavy footsteps as the soldiers prepared to breach the door.

"Thank you, Odessa. Good hunting."

He switched the microphone off as a torch began to cut through the heavy metal door. Looking at the computer, Charles pondered if he should leave with a song. He finally decided to go for it, assuming that if it turned out to be a bad choice, everyone would simply ignore it. He settled on "American Pie," remembering how he enjoyed listening to it as a kid, despite not really understanding the lyrics. It was sad and uplifting at the same time, which was appropriate enough for how everyone felt.

_Music and radio reflect the mood of the people. In less than a day we went from nothing to on-air wedding proposals and shout-outs. Really, how can the Combine expect to beat a species that good at rebounding? How can they beat a species that walks into battle with joy, ready to die to protect each other? Maybe that's why they convert humans to use as their soldiers now - because we're better at it than they could ever be._

Charles realized that for one brief day, he was the voice of humanity. He was the voice screaming into the darkness, flipping off the universe with his last breath. For the first time in a decade, he had hope that the human race would survive.

He grabbed his MP7 off the console and flipped a desk over in front of the door. Kneeling behind it, he put a hand up to the pocket where the picture of the woman from all those years ago still resided.

Today, at the end of his life, Charles Ruttheimer knew that he was right where he needed to be.

_I hope I did you proud, Andrea._


	24. Anticitizens

**Chapter 23 - Anticitizens**

"Lieutenant, they've broken through the east door!"

"God dammit!" Daria yelled. "Fall back into the administrative offices and put up a barricade in the ticket office. Make them fight room to room. Use shotguns and grenades. Don't hold back, we're fine on ammo!"

Below her, Combine soldiers were trying to break in the main doors.

"Grenades out the windows! Drop 'em right on their heads!"

Seconds later, a twin claps of thunder put an end to the pounding at the door.

_We can't hold them off like this forever. I need to get them away from the doors. What do we have?_

Daria looked down at the AK-47 in her hands. What did people do when they were fighting authority? The used an AK. They threw rocks. They...

"I WANT EVERYBODY WITH ALCOHOL TO BRING IT TO ME, RIGHT NOW!"

---------------------

"God damnit," Jane muttered. "They won't stop coming! I'm running low on the rifle."

She grabbed for another magazine.

"Fuck, last mag!"

"Keep firing anyway!" Watts answered.

Jane fired off her last ten sniper rounds, taking down six enemy soldiers. She dropped the gun and grabbed her MP7. As she leaned over to pull the strap off her shoulder, several rounds from a pulse rifle passed through where her head had been.

Beside her, Watts kept firing his M25. His smaller magazines resulted in more reloads, and thus a slower firing rate. Across the street, he spotted Combine snipers attempting to take position on the roof of the apartment building Grey Team had used the day before. Taking aim at the first in line, he put the three soldiers down in four shots. His last shot of the magazine went into another soldier who was attempting to take cover inside the apartments.

"Christ, you jackasses," he heard Jane yell, "Why don't you just give up?!"

--------------------

"Thank god for Vodka and the enlisted," Daria muttered. Around her were bottles of vodka and assorted liquors, whiskeys, and every type of blindingly alcoholic drink imaginable, totaling well into the gallons.

Using one bottle to douse several rags and pieces of paper, she began arming them all with a wick.

_Molotov cocktails. Psychological weapon of the masses._

The Combine were pounding on the front door again. Grabbing a lighter that had been donated for the purpose, she lit one of the rags on fire and stepped to the window. Below her, she could see several soldiers trying to kick in the door. Daria took aim, and threw the flaming bottle through the window.

It burst open on the head of the center soldier, instantly dousing them all in flame with a tremendous _WOOMPF_. The three soldiers emitted an electronic scream through their masks.

"Take these," she said to the soldiers around her. "Throw a few in each stairwell to keep out anyone who tries to come in there. Light up the hallway to the east door. I want the whole fucking thing on fire, don't give them a chance at just running through. Take half of what's left to the west door, I'll keep the rest here."

--------------------

"Last mag!" Watts yelled.

"Welcome to the club!" Jane yelled back

Seconds later, he switched to his MP7. The plaza before him was littered with the bodies of Combine soldiers, and every indication pointed to the tracks behind the building being the same.

Before he managed to burn through his first magazine for the MP7, smoke began to roll up the outside wall in front of him. Jane grabbed the radio and called down to Daria.

"Daria, they've set the building on fire!"

"_No, that was me."_

"What?!"

"_Don't worry about it, just keep shooting."_

Jane obeyed, putting the radio back onto her belt. As she spun back around to shoot out the window, she was knocked to the ground by a sudden hot pain in her chest. Watts was kneeling over her an instant later.

"You're hit," she heard him say. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you."

"No," she said, recollecting herself. "It's a graze, I can feel it. Let me get up."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she replied, grimacing. "Might have glanced off a rib, but I'm not going to die. Help me up."

Jane felt him pull on her hand, and used her other arm to push herself up. She grabbed her gun and returned to the window.

"This doesn't count as you saving my ass, by the way."

As she opened fire, the PA speakers let out a burst of static.

"_Attention,"_ a cold, female voice began. _"Anticitizen Freeman engaged in Sector 17-C. Deploy, sterilize, secure."_

Instantly, the Combine attack broke off. Those closer to the building were cut down as they ran away.

"Is it over?" Watts asked.

"Yeah," Jane replied as the building erupted into cheers. "They're after Freeman now. Somehow."

"If they're all running towards Freeman, I really hope he doesn't come this way."

"No kidding."

Jane dropped to the floor, her back against the window.

"Are you okay?" Watts asked.

She pulled up her shirt to examine where the bullet had struck and noticed a tear in her bra strap, which was red with blood. At the end was a small bump. Running her finger underneath the strap, Jane produced a bullet.

"Yeah, it just grazed me," she answered, holding the bullet up. "It cut me pretty good, but nothing bad."

Watts sat beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders.

"I thought I lost you for a second back there."

Jane smiled that smirk so full of mischief. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

Outside, boots pounded on the floor as someone ran down the hall. They could hear the runner yelling, "Jane? Jane!"

Daria ran past, grabbing the door frame at the last second to stop herself.

"Jane! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, amiga."

"Then why didn't you answer your radio?"

Puzzled, Jane grabbed her radio. When she looked at it, there was a jagged hole punched through the device.

"Wow."


	25. Cut Off

**Chapter 24 – Cut Off**

Downstairs, the lobby was bustling with activity. Several teams were still trying to fight the fires with whatever materials they could find. Eventually a bucket train was started to bring in dirt from the train yard to simply smother the flames.

Two desks had been dragged out of the offices and put together on the main staircase landing to create a large table, which now had a map of City 17 spread out across it. Various objects were being used to represent strategic points. Bottle caps for rally points, subway tokens for train stations, and spent casings for Combine positions. Daria stood behind it, facing out toward the lobby. On both sides of her stood Lieutenant Simmons of Bridgepoint Red and Lieutenant Anders.

Jane sat on the stairs, watching over the proceedings. She was joined by Watts, who had been upstairs collecting their empty magazines in the event they were ever resupplied.

"What's going on now?" Watts asked

"We lost twenty three men. Daria's trying to get any info she can about what's going on. With Upch.... Charles gone, we're kinda cut off. Everyone is."

"So what _do_ we know?"

"Freeman's back. Don't ask how, no one knows. The main fight seems to be shaping up around an Overwatch dispatch station inside an old museum. That's pretty much it."

The speakers outside let out a shrill tone.

"Oh, and the Breencast is back online," Jane added.

"_We now have direct confirmation of a disruptor in our midst, one who has acquired an almost messianic reputation in the minds of certain citizens. His figure is synonymous with the darkest urges of instinct, ignorance and decay. Some of the worst excesses of the Black Mesa Incident have been laid directly at his feet. And yet unsophisticated minds continue to imbue him with romantic power, giving him such dangerous poetic labels as the One Free Man..._

"Jane?" Daria called out.

"Yeah?"

"Shut that son of a bitch up."

"Roger that," Jane answered. She tapped Watts on the soldier, and both walked out through the still-warm front door.

"_...remind all citizens of the dangers of magical thinking. We have scarcely begun to climb from the dark pit of our species' evolution. Let us not slide backward into oblivion, just as we have finally begun to see the light..."_

Jane looked up at a spire standing in the middle of the plaza. Near the top, four large video screens pointing in the cardinal directions displayed Breen's face as he spoke. It was a face every human knew well - they'd all been forced to watch his near-constant broadcasts on TV and everywhere outside. It was pretty obvious to Jane that his white beard would be considered unfashionable for at least the next century.

"_...Civic deeds do not go unrewarded. And contrariwise, complicity with his cause will not go unpunished..."_

Jane pulled out her Magnum, aiming straight at the face on the screen above her.

"SHUT UP!" she yelled, pulling the trigger. Glass from the shattered screen rained down onto the pavement in front of her. The sudden silence was greeted by applause from around the plaza.

"Feel better?" Watts asked.

"Considerably. I've wanted to do that for years now."

Even though they were disabled by the loss of the first screen, the two soldiers shot out the other three to punctuate their point. Satisfied, they headed back inside to find Daria, still discussing the map.

"Can we get a resupply?" she asked Anders.

"From the best we can tell, we can get down the tracks with no contact. But I'd be willing to bet that every bullet available is heading in Freeman's direction, so I can't guarantee we'll be given any."

"Fucking Freeman," Daria muttered. "If he wasn't so effective at drawing the heat off of us I'd strangle him."

She tapped the table a few times before looking up to Lt. Simmons. "Get Anders a list of the types of ammo you need. Try to get an inventory of what we could steal from the bodies first though. Don't forget to hand out the pulse rifles, either. Jane? Watts? Anything you want to add to the shopping list?"

"Seven point six-two by 54 and 56," Watts answered. "We ran completely dry on the rifles."

"Got that?" she asked Anders, who nodded his confirmation. "Good. I also need your team to get me roof access again. And Simmons, once they finish that I want spotters back on the roof, looking for any sign of another attack. Get to work."

The two Lieutenants nodded and broke off to perform their assigned duties. Daria called out to DeMartino, who was standing watch by one of the front windows, and motioned her team to join her at the table.

"Here's what we've managed to gather so far," she began. "Apparently the explosion at Nova Prospekt was caused by a teleporter malfunction as Freeman and Alyx Vance escaped. Due to quantum uncertainties and other assorted technobabble from Doctor Kleiner, it actually took them a week to complete the transport. Which means we've managed to create a teleporter that's slower than walking pace."

"Fun," Jane commented.

"Now that Freeman is back," Daria continued, "the Combine are moving everything they've got to take him out. Which is fine with me, as long as he stays the hell away from here."

"So is he going to stay the hell away from here?" DeMartino asked.

"It looks like it. He's on the opposite side of the city, and heading towards the Citadel. And if he gets it into his head to come this way, I'll kill him myself."

-------------------

"Do you know how hard it is to find a new bra in this city?"

Jane and Watts had found an empty room on the west side of the building, where she was currently inspecting the damage to her outfit.

"What's wrong with the old one?" Watts asked, sticking out his tongue.

"Well, blood is out this season. And ripped fabric is soooo 2005."

"Come here, let me see it."

"Oh, you just want to see me topless."

"I can't deny that," he replied with a smile, "but I just want to see if I have anything that can help."

Jane fretted for a moment, trying to remind herself that she _had_ said they should wait until after the fighting was over to shoot for a relationship. Eventually the need to not have her own bra digging into a fresh, open wound won.

"Fine," she said, removing her shirt.

Watts lifted up the strap to get a look at the wound underneath.

"Damn, that's a nasty little cut. I don't know why you're not still bleeding."

He grabbed Jane's first aid kit and opened it, revealing rolls of bandages and assorted chemicals.

"This'll sting a little," Watts said, holding up the hydrogen peroxide.

"Yeah, yeah. I've been shot before, you know."

"That's a bad habit, should I organize an intervention?"

"I can quit anytime I want!" Jane began to laugh, but was cut short by the burning sensation of the peroxide in her wound.

"You know this stuff is used as rocket fuel?"

"Why, because it burns like hell?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Watts smiled. "I don't think we have anything that can be used for stitching around here, so we'll just have to make-do with a bandage."

Jane nodded, still teary-eyed from the feeling of the peroxide. After Watts applied the bandage, she pushed his hands away.

"I don't think I'll need you sewing up my clothes, thanks. It feels much better with the bandage in-between."

"No problem."

Jane pulled her shirt back on and leaned against Watts.

"That was really sweet of you, running to help me earlier today."

"I would have done that for anyone, Jane."

"I know, but I doubt you would have had that adorable look of concern on your face with anyone else."

"I have an adorable look?" Watts asked, trying hard to scowl.

"Yes," she replied with that smile Watts found irresistable. "You do."

Jane leaned in and kissed him. Through her closed eyelids, the room seemed to grow brighter. She was really enjoying it, especially when Watts pushed her to the ground.

It became considerably less enjoyable when the windows were blown into the room and embedded themselves in the wall she'd been sitting against just a second earlier.

"What the hell?" she asked. Outside, they could see the top of the Citadel burning. Or at least, it appeared to be burning. Above the spire, the clouds began to swirl and open, glowing a menacing mixture of orange and red.

"Okay, I guess we're not off duty anymore."


	26. Definitely Not Off Duty

**Chapter 25 – Definitely Not Off Duty**

Downstairs, the couple found Daria still standing over the map. The only noticeable difference was the level of excitement around her. Spotting them, Daria waved her teammates over to join her.

"The Citadel exploded."

"We noticed," Jane fired back.

"Apparently, that was a small explosion. The eggheads are worried that all it did was breach the containment of the Citadel's reactor, which would make a much bigger boom."

"How big?" Watts asked.

"Big enough to level the entire city and a considerable portion of the countryside. We need to start evacuating. Green Team is working on getting more trains online to facilitate it. We've taken all the train stations in the city, so we're just trying to put out the word for citizens to get to the nearest one."

"_Fellow citizens," _the speakers outside began to play a nervous voice, _"residents of City 17 and environs. By which I mean sentient residents of course. Human and otherwise although I believe there's little need to explain recent developments to our Vortigant allies..."_

"Oh," Daria added, "and we own the airwaves again. Doctor Kleiner isn't as good a DJ as Charles though."

----------------------

The evacuation required very little in the way of effort. Citizens came in, boarded the trains, and left. Some time later, the same trains would return with more ammunition and weapons to fortify the station as Daria tried to strengthen the position. DeMartino was on sentry duty, while Jane and Watts had repositioned to the roof, taking over for the snipers from Bridgepoint Red. To the west, they could see fires raging, occasionally flaring up or winking out as large pieces of the Citadel, falling nearly two miles from the top of the spire, landed nearby.

_I really need to paint this._ Jane thought to herself, as a chunk the size of an aircraft carrier crashed to the ground.

-----------------------

The next morning, Jane awoke to see the strange storm still brewing over the Citadel. After it hadn't re-exploded immediately, she and Watts had gone to bed under the assumption it would be better to die in an explosion while sleeping than die the next day from being too tired to aim straight. Yawning, she ran her fingers through Watts' short hair, waking him up.

"Is the world over yet?" he sleepily asked.

"Nope, it's just hanging around on the edge, waiting for someone to push it into the shitter."

DeMartino's head appeared through the door. "You two, Morgendorffer wants us downstairs for a briefing."

"You heard the man," Jane said, scratching the stubble under Watts' chin. "We have responsibilities and duties now. Isn't that wonderfully stressful?"

---------------------

Minutes later, the couple was downstairs, taking their place at Daria's side.

"I've just received word that somehow, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance have survived."

The room erupted into applause and cheers, which Daria allowed to die down before continuing.

"Unfortunately, the word from Kleiner is the Combine are trying to use their reactor to open up a self-sustained portal to their homeworld, to call in reinforcements. To do so, they'll have to force the reactor to go critical in order to get it open. Freeman and Vance are trying to stop it right now, but at best they can only delay the reaction and stop the reinforcements from coming. No matter what, this whole city will be destroyed by nightfall. Our job is to get every single citizen we can out of here. You may have noticed that Kleiner is on the PA system urging them to leave.

"The really bad news is there are still Combine forces around, and they're looking for revenge - not to mention Freeman. They know we own the train stations, and they'll be coming for us. What happened yesterday was just foreplay compared to what's coming. And it'll be three times worse if Freeman uses this station to escape.

"So," she continued, "my standing orders are that any military forces that come through here to escape are getting conscripted to my command. We need the guns. I'm setting a hard deadline for our own escape at 5 PM. Any citizens who get here afterward are just going to be SOL."

"Lieutenant," a Sergeant from Red Team objected, "we can't just leave citizens behind."

"We have the resources to move everyone out in time. At some point personal responsibility comes into play, and if they can't make it to the nearest train station with more than twelve hours of warning, that's their fault. Now, get to work."

----------------------

"_Lieutenant Morgendorffer, this is North Spotter, I've got eyes on inbound Combine forces. At least three separate squads, over."_

"ETA, North Spotter?"

_Five minutes, ma'am._

Daria sighed. That was the third such call. They were approaching from every direction but directly behind. At least 150 enemy soldiers inbound, and 60 to hold them off, all while civilians were still coming in. And only one hour until the hard deadline.

At least they were better prepared this time. The last attack had caught them horribly off guard, after everyone had become complacent from the easy success of the first day. And she'd come within two inches of losing her best friend. Twice.

This time, they wouldn't need the Molotov cocktails.

Daria pressed the talk button again. "Load up the civilians immediately. All teams, get into position. Maintain radio silence until I give the signal. If anyone fires before I give the order, I will shoot them myself."

----------------------

Jane and Watts were on the roof, both cradling their rifles. Below them, they could hear the heavy footsteps of the Combine soldiers.

"Hey," Jane whispered. "Don't save my ass this time. I'm already down 3 to 1."

"I'll call it even if you let me off the hook for that pizza."

"No way in hell. I'll die before I let you off for that."

The Combine soldiers took a kick at the door. Immediately, the radio crackled to life.

"_FIRE!"_


	27. The Best Laid Plans

**Chapter 26 – The Best Laid Plans**

Jane and Watts rose over the lip of the roof, MP7's drawn. Around the plaza, teams stationed on each of the surrounding roofs did the same. Windows on the upper floors blew open as more soldiers inside began firing. Down the street, charges blew off the facades of unoccupied buildings, throwing debris across the pavement and blocking off any escape. Immediately, the Combine soldiers tried to run around to the sides of the train station, but were cut off by barricades that had been placed in both alleys. Over two dozen were cut down as they were cornered.

Still, over a hundred of the enemy remained. In an attempt to escape the ambush, they rushed the apartment building across the plaza, jumping in through windows and breaking down the door. But once again, the Resistance was prepared.

"_Let them have the apartments," _Daria's voice commanded. Across the plaza, friendly soldiers poured out onto the roof, running to jump the gap to the next building. They would eventually go around the outside of the newly-made barricades and return via the station's rear flanks.

"_Everyone's clear Lieutenant. We'll see you in a few."_

Inside, Daria saw her plan coming to fruition. The Combine had taken the bait. This close to the hard deadline, there were very few civilians left to evacuate. The last two hours hadn't even mustered enough to fill one car. There was easily enough room to evacuate her soldiers as well.

"Sound the retreat. West and East buildings first."

Above her, hastily-built footbridges were pushed out across the gap between the station and its adjacent buildings. Soon, soldiers were crossing to the station's roof. Rope ladders were thrown down the destroyed stairwells.

Daria tapped the table with her fingers. This was the bottleneck. They'd sacrificed the stairwells in the previous attack, and now they were paying for it with the slowdown in the evacuation. Already, the Combine forces could see them on the retreat, and were rushing to take the two new buildings as the pressure on them decreased.

The rate of fire decreased as only a third of the station's forces were left on the line.

"_This is North Squad, we're coming in the back."_

Daria grabbed her radio to reply. "Good timing North. Get your men up front and keep up the fire."

"_This is Jane, West and East are across. We're dropping the bridges now."_

Upstairs, Jane and Watts were pulling in the eastern bridge. Green Team had done a wonderful job, effectively creating a pair of cable-stay bridges that rotated outwards. On the opposite end of the roof, Bridgepoint Red's sniper team was pulling in the other bridge.

Once the bridge was fully retracted, Jane activated the timed detonator on a pre-placed explosive charge at the base of the bridge. As they retreated to the stairwell, she radioed down.

"Bridges are retracted, detonators set. We're heading down."

Twin claps of thunder confirmed the bridges' destruction.

"Good work, Jane," Daria kept the radio up, ready for the next set of orders. Thirty seconds later, she felt a tap on her back.

"We're all down, amiga."

"Get to the train. I'll be there in a minute."

Jane and Watts jogged off towards the south side of the building. As they left, Daria pressed the talk button.

"Full retreat, everyone out now. You have thirty seconds."

Instantly, every soldier in the building ceased fire and ran for the back exit. Daria grabbed the map off the table and, with DeMartino as escort, fell in at the back of the line.

"You're running a tight schedule, Ms. Morgendorffer."

"If we gave them any time we'd all be dead, DeMartino."

To prove her point, there was a loud bang which caused the front door to shake. As she exited the building, Daria could hear the door give way. Stepping into the daylight, she yelled into the radio.

"Start the train! They're right on our asses!"

The train began to move as the lines to board dwindled. Daria was already at a jogging pace to keep up when she jumped for the entrance steps of the caboose.

Inside, she found Jane and Watts already waiting. More importantly, she found Lieutenant Anders from Green Team.

"Anders, if you'll do the honors?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied. Anders then produced a detonator from his jacket, and pressed the button.

Behind them, a mere fifty yards down the tracks, a chain of explosions ripped through the station and unoccupied trains. Daria's plan was completed: a full scale scorched-earth retreat. The station collapsed onto the track, burying any trains that might still be operational.

Daria sat down heavily in one of the car's seats, relieved. Originally the plan had been to blow all four buildings individually, destroying each as they were captured. Unfortunately, there hadn't been enough explosives.

"Good work Anders. That's probably one of the fastest controlled demolitions in history."

-----------------------

An hour later the train slowly squealed to a stop, nearly twenty miles outside the city. From there, an old hiking trail would take the evacuees to an abandoned town along the coast named St. Olga, where the rest of the refugees from Daria's sector had already been taken.

Taking up the rear, Grey Team disembarked the train. Ahead of them, the rest of their fellow evacuees disappeared into the tree line. Daria turned to her team.

"You three did outstanding work over the last few days. I just wanted to thank you for making this officer work easy."

"We just feel sorry for the required lobotomy that you'll have to undergo," Jane quipped.

Daria was about to fire back when the sky flashed a brilliant blue-white. The Citadel was finally exploding. A shockwave raced across the ground toward them, throwing up dust and knocking the team to their feet.

"I didn't think it would be that strong out here," Daria noted.

Getting back up, she looked toward the Citadel. She could see the air shock radiating outward, quite quickly.

"If the ground shock was so strong out here..." DeMartino observed, "You don't think?"

"GET TO COVER, NOW!" Daria yelled, running towards the train. The team reentered the rear car and dove down between the seats. Above them, the windows on both sides blew out. The car rocked sideways, tipping further and further until it finally began to roll, flipping onto its roof. The tumbling continued for what felt like an eternity as each soldier tried to grab on to anything they could find to keep from being thrown clear. Eventually, the car came to a rest on its side.

"I'm getting really sick of surviving nuclear-scale explosions," DeMartino growled.

"Would you prefer repeatedly dying in nuclear-scale explosions then?" Daria answered back.

DeMartino sat up against the former floor. "I'd PREFER to retire."

Grey Team crawled back out the door. The tracks were nearly fifty yards away. In front of them were the remains of City 17, the bottom kilometer of the Citadel titled at a 45 degree angle, while nearly a kilometer away, another portion of the tremendous spire had speared into the ground. A few buildings appeared to be standing, but were gutted. Trees beyond the city limits were stripped of their limbs and bark, lying blackened on the ground. Even here, twenty miles away, the trees had been blown over.

But what dominated the scene was the portal. It looked like the eye of a hurricane, with a bright blue tornado stretching from the clouds to the ground.

"Christ, what about the refugees?" Jane asked.

Grey Team immediately sprinted in the direction the rest of their group had been heading. As they crossed a low rise, they were greeted with a grisly scene. Almost eighty bodies lied on the ground. Some were speared by debris, others were crushed by fallen trees. It was clear that there were no survivors.

Jane put a hand on Daria's shoulder, and found that she was shaking like a leaf. As the only members of Grey Team, she had never lost anyone under her command. Now, she'd lost nearly a hundred.

"Daria, you did good. We got more than three thousand people out. This isn't your fault, it's just a freak accident of bad luck."

The auburn-haired woman took a deep breath.

"I know. We need to move."

"To St. Olga?" DeMartino asked.

"No. After we evacuated, Resistance forces were going to regroup at White Forest. It's an old missile base. Apparently they have something planned for that giant portal."

"I don't like this," DeMartino commented. "We don't know where our direct leadership is. Do we even know if Cubbage is still alive? The best information we're working on is hearsay."

"It's the best we can do. I doubt the Combine is even half as organized as us right now anyway. Let's move out."


	28. Xenobiology

**Chapter 27 - Xenobiology**

It was already close to sundown when the Citadel had detonated, leaving Grey Team very little time before they had to stop for the night.

After setting up a camp for the night, Daria took the first watch. Because of the now-open terrain and complete lack of cover, this effectively meant sitting up in the dark surrounded by sleeping teammates. It was a risky position, but also the only option.

_All those people, dead. They trusted me with their lives and I screwed it up._

There was a distant rumbling as part of the Citadel collapsed.

_I didn't even know their names. Just call signs and ranks._

The grass in front of her began to blur as tears formed Daria's eyes. She let out a short sob before clamping her hand down over her mouth. It was always possible that there were zombies or Combine soldiers waiting in the dark, and she didn't want to lose the rest of her team because of her own weaknesses.

_-----------------------_

Daria was awake when the sun rose the following morning, having never gone to bed. She had pretended to sleep after her watch was over, not wanting to talk about how she felt with Jane. She couldn't afford to break the night's silence with talk.

The group quietly packed their equipment and moved out – heading away from the fires of City 17. Somewhere ahead of them lay White Forest, a rugged wilderness housing a former soviet missile base. It had been appropriated by the Resistance for research, though what exactly that research was remained a mystery to Daria.

It was a quiet day. The destruction of the city left the Combine forces without any direction or leadership. The only real danger Daria expected were zombies and any alien fauna. The ground here was too rocky for major Ant Lion activity, but she knew they had tunnels running underneath the countryside, using the bedrock itself for protection while the colony farmed food from the sandy beaches. There was still the possibility of zombies, but they were well away from the population centers.

After a few hours, Daria began to remember that even quiet days could be unbearably loud. The massive portal over the city was upsetting air currents, causing unsteady breezes around them. As they trekked deeper into the forest, the sound of rustling leaves steadily rose from a pleasant reminder of autumn to a full-on roar, drowning out their own footsteps.

It occurred to Daria that they may need to pay more attention to their rear flank, so she turned to DeMartino to order him to keep an eye behind them.

She turned too late.

There was a creature rushing at them from behind. It ran on three legs and was almost a foot taller than DeMartino, with two glowing blue eyes sitting on top of one another. She'd never seen it before, but Daria recognized instantly that it was a Combine synth – one of their half-machine, half-organic creations like the gunships. DeMartino must have seen the look of shock cross her face, because he immediately turned and took the full brunt of the alien's weight.

The creature stood over DeMartino, apparently assessing what to do next. Standing still, she could see that the eyes weren't actually eyes – those were to the side. But what concerned Daria more were the two small appendages that extended under the alien's body, like the claws of a praying mantis.

By now, Jane and Watts had heard the commotion behind them and had turned around. Both rushed to Daria's side and began firing into the monstrosity, which ignored their bullets. It bent down, extending one of its claws and stabbed DeMartino through the chest.

Daria finally realized she hadn't moved since she'd turned around, and grabbed for her gun, but the creature was already charging her. She felt an intense pain in her chest as the force of the impact fractured several ribs. On the ground, unable to breath, she saw the tripodal creature standing over her, ready to impale her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

The young lieutenant heard a voice very close to her, screaming, "NO!" Daria opened her eyes, and saw the barrel of Jane's Magnum stuck deep into one of the bright blue orbs she'd mistaken for eyes. There was a wet sound as the back of the alien's head exploded.

Jane kicked the creature back so that it didn't fall onto her friend, and emptied five remaining shots into it. Seeing the raven-haired woman standing above her, gun drawn with alien blood splattered over her body, Daria couldn't help but imagine the fires of hell being reflected in her blue eyes.

Those same blue eyes looked at her and softened instantly.

"Are you okay, Daria?"

Daria tried to reply, but couldn't catch her breath long enough to form a sentence. Instead, she feebly nodded her head and tried to point toward DeMartino. When she looked, Watts was already kneeling by his side, both hands trying to apply pressure to the stab wound.

"You're going to be okay, Sarge."

"No I'm not," DeMartino managed. "It ran all the way through."

Jane knelt beside her former teacher and held his hand as tears formed in her eyes.

"Ms. Lane. Jane. You're good soldier, don't forget that."

A few feet away, Daria could hear what was going on. She rolled herself over, ignoring the pain in her chest.

_No, not him. He can't die. I can't lose another one._

She pushed herself onto her knees and tried to stand, only to stumble and fall forward. Giving up, she crawled to DeMartino's side and sat down, grabbing his other hand.

"And Daria. I'm glad to see my two favorite students doing so well for themselves. I..."

DeMartino gasped for air. Knowing his time was short, he decided to go straight to the point.

"I'm proud of you three. Thank you."

He gasped once more, before his eyes rolled back into his head. Watts ran his hand over the Sergeant's face, closing them.

Watts wanted to cry, badly. But despite the loss of the man who'd taught him how to survive in the middle of a war, he recognized the close personal bond his two teammates had to their teacher - possibly the last link to their past lives. He decided to stand guard as they mourned their loss, fighting back the tears as he constantly scanned their surroundings.

They remained that way for half an hour, until Jane wiped away her tears with a bloody sleeve and put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"We need to move," she finally managed to say.

"But we can't just leave him lying here..."

"Daria," Jane began. She found she didn't have the words to explain why it was okay to leave the body of their teacher behind. She didn't believe in God. She didn't think their was a life for him after this. What could she possibly say?

"Daria, look around us. It's fall. The leaves are turning red, the grass is waving in the breeze. It's peaceful here, even after what just happened. This is what we've wanted for ten years, this is what we've been fighting for. DeMartino just earned an eternity here, at peace. There's no reason to try and help him now, because he doesn't need it. So let's get moving and leave him to rest, okay?"

The trio moved on, leaving the body of their fallen comrade. Around them, the wind still blew through the leaves, covering the sound of their footsteps. Daria appreciated the noise. The constant roar drowned out her own thoughts, distracting her from the pain in her chest.


	29. Call It

**Chapter 28 – Call It**

They arrived at the White Forest missile base several hours later. It was a flurry of activity as soldiers appeared to be preparing for an attack. Upon arriving, Grey Team was directed into the former control building for the missile silos, which the Resistance had converted back into a military installation. Aside from the still-functioning missile controls, there was a lab for the scientists, extensive barracks, a mess hall, and even a field hospital. After reporting in at the front gate, Daria and company found their way to the sick bay, where she was given an X-ray.

"Yep," the medic began, holding the print up to the light. "Two fractured ribs on your right side, the fifth and sixth. Both in two places."

Reclining on a hospital bed, but still fully dressed in her Resistance clothing, Daria asked: "What can you do about them?"

"I can give you medication for the pain, but the only real treatment in a non-life threatening case is to not do anything strenuous until it heals."

Daria shook her head. "I don't want the pain meds. There's other soldiers who are going to need it more than me."

A voice came over the base's PA system, calling for all team leaders to report to the administrative offices.

"I need to go," Daria said, attempting to push herself out of bed. The medic's hand stopped her.

"I'm afraid not. You've already walked several miles over rough terrain. I'm not comfortable with you getting out of bed until I can run a few more tests."

Daria sighed and laid back down. "Jane? Can you take my place?"

"No, I'm not leaving you."

She began to protest, but Jane had a look in her eyes that said she wasn't going to win this argument.

"Watts?"

Watts considered protesting on the basis that he was the lowest ranked member of the team, but after looking between the two women he realized that doing so would risk a painful death.

"Okay. See you in a bit, Daria."

------------------------

Watts returned an hour later, finding Jane sitting on the bed with Daria.

"So what was the briefing for?" Daria asked.

"Well, first thing's first, Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance are here, along with pretty much every higher-up in the Resistance. Kleiner, Eli Vance, some stuffy guy named Magnusson."

Daria rolled her eyes. Magnusson was a scientist, just like the rest of the Resistance leadership. Unfortunately, he was also the most uptight person to ever walk the face of the Earth. He had no interest in fighting, which was understandable, but he strongly and _vocally _felt that scientific matters should take priority over the military forces of the Resistance.

"So why are they all here?" she asked.

"Apparently during the original Black Mesa incident they managed to launch an array of satellites that were used to shut down local portal activity. It's the reason the portal storms stopped in the first place, and it's why the Combine can't teleport locally . Now they've made a new satellite that is somehow better at blocking portal formation, which could not only shut down that massive portal over the city right now, but possibly stop the Combine from sending in reinforcements from their homeworld."

"And?" Daria asked, sensing that bad news was about to follow.

"And there's a huge Combine force on the way here to stop us from launching it."

"I need to get out of here," she said, ignoring the pain in her chest as she pushed herself up.

"No you don't. I volunteered us to protect the medical station, I didn't want to force you and Jane to argue over whether or not she could leave you behind."

Sitting beside Daria, Jane mouthed a thank you to Watts when she was sure Daria wasn't looking. A brief glance told her that he'd gotten the message.

_Great, _Daria thought. _Now I'm useless. Probably for the better, I seem to keep getting people killed when I'm in command lately._

The PA speaker came to life with a frantic voice.

"_Warning: intruders in the base. All teams prepare to engage."_

"I'm not sitting in this bed while people are dying outside," Daria said. "Give me my gun. I don't care if we're just defending this room, I want to be up front."

Jane nodded and grabbed Daria's guns off the bedside table, waiting for her friend to stand up before handing them off. After much grimacing, Daria managed to put the straps over her shoulders and followed her two subordinates to the medical station's entrance.

--------------------

They could hear the gunfire echoing through the concrete hallways, but after fifteen minutes, Grey Team had yet to see an enemy.

Currently, Jane and Watts were pushing footlockers and desks into the hallway to use as cover, while Daria stood by the door, watching over the proceedings with anxiety.

"Damnit, I don't want to just sit here," she commented angrily. "It feels like we're avoiding the fight."

"Daria," Jane replied, "stop fretting over it. No one out there would have run into a battle in your condition. I promise if they come by here you can give them all the hell you want."

There was a burst of gunfire that sounded much closer than before. The Combine were advancing toward Grey Team's position.

Daria tried to kneel behind an overturned desk, but found it too painful. Instead, she remained standing, using the doorway to the medical station for cover. Jane and Watts, still fully mobile, knelt between separate stacks of footlockers just in front of her, on opposite sides of the hallway. The layout was meant to cover them from behind in case the Combine managed to flank the team.

There was another burst of fire around the corner, followed by a dead Resistance member falling into view. Several seconds of silence followed before they could hear the pounding feet of the advancing Combine soldiers. As the first rounded the corner, he was put down by a burst of fire from each of the three soldiers.

The quick kill resulted in several more seconds of silence as the remaining Combine thought about how to proceed. Eventually, a grenade flew around the corner, bouncing off the wall and heading straight between Jane and Watts. Daria followed its arc to the ground, until it suddenly stopped – in Watts' hand. The soldier allowed the weight of the grenade to push his hand back before slinging it forward, back toward the point that it had impacted the wall. The opposing trajectory caused the explosive canister to bounce back around the corner, where it detonated before the Combine soldiers could react.

More silence, which stretched into minutes as Grey Team waited for the next move. Eventually, a squad of friendly soldiers ran past and around the corner, confirming there were no more enemies. The trio finally all breathed out at once, remaining quiet until Watts finally broke the silence.

"Did I actually just do that?" he asked, not quite believing he'd been stupid enough to grab a live grenade.

"It doesn't count unless you call it," Jane and Daria answered together.


	30. Another Last Stand

**Chapter 29 – Another Last Stand**

"_Warning: Striders and Hunters inbound. All teams outside to repel."_

The jubilant faces around the base dropped as they realized that the attack they'd just repelled was merely a precursor for the real threat. Grey Team had learned the name for what they'd encountered in the forest that had killed DeMartino – Hunters. More of them were on the way, and apparently they were accompanied by Striders.

Like Hunters, Striders were a three-legged synth. However, instead of being about the same height as a man, Striders were almost fifty feet tall. They reminded Daria of the alien ships from War of the Worlds, walking slowly over the terrain as they wiped out everything in their path. They were vaguely insect-like in their appearance, and had three weapons: an anti-personnel cannon that behaved much like a larger version of the pulse rifle, their own feet which were used to impale anyone too close to shoot, and the most horrifying weapon of all – a warp cannon that could destroy buildings and vaporized anyone unlucky enough to be caught in front of it.

"Oh shit, we're screwed," she heard a Private say. Daria found she couldn't disagree with him.

"Jane..."

"I'm going outside Daria. I don't want to leave you here, but you're in no condition for a fight and they need everyone they can get. I'm sorry. I promise I'll be back."

Daria wanted to object, to pull rank, But she knew that Jane was right. Instead, she turned to Watts.

"Her safety is your responsibility. Watch her back, that's an order."

"Yes ma'am."

----------------------

As the two made it outside, they heard an explosion in the distance. Beyond a low rise, fire and splintered wood fountained up from an obscured structure.

A lieutenant who had been standing by the door, directing everyone to their positions, saw the rifles the two had slung across their backs.

"Snipers? Climb up on top of the missile silo and provide covering fire."

The two obliged, climbing a set of rungs which had been set into the concrete. Once there, they took up positions on opposite sides of the structure and set up their rifles.

Jane was the first to fire as she spotted a Hunter galloping up the path leading to the base. The bullet impacted and ejected a spurt of blood and flesh, but failed to slow the creature down.

_Christ, what does it take to kill one of these things?_

She remembered pressing her gun into that blue orb when one of them had been ready to kill Daria. It had gone down pretty easily, hadn't it?

"Aim for the eyes!" Jane yelled to Watts.

"Geez, you want to make it any more difficult?"

Watts tested her theory by shooting the next to round the corner. It went down instantly.

Jane followed suit, shooting another.

_This might not be that hard, _Watts thought to himself, seeing how easily the creatures could be eliminated.

Just as he fired on the next Hunter, a long, bony leg came into view. The Strider it was attached to ran forward, keeping its body low to the ground to increase the distance of its stride. It rushed toward the missile silo, standing up at the last minute to aim its cannon. Watts saw the barrel of the massive gun pointing directly at him, and could see the air distort as the cannon charged itself.

Instinct forced him to get up on his knees, preparing to launch into a run, but his mind saw there was no possibility that he'd get out of the way in time.

_Oh, shit._

_----------------------_

Daria was nearly thrown to the ground as the explosion rocked the base. Immediately, she knew Jane was in trouble.

_No no no no nonono._

As she ran through the halls, she constantly had to change her step to avoid bodies. Some of them were Combine, but by far most had belonged to Resistance members. Dozens, maybe even a hundred, just inside the base.

_It's pointless. We can't win. They all died for nothing. DeMartino, Jane, Watts, all for nothing. And it's all my fault. They wouldn't have been here if it weren't for me._

She kept running as the bodies became more and more numerous, until she saw the door to the outside. She put her hands forward, throwing it open.

Squinting in the bright daylight, she saw a tall, thin leg in front of her. On the bottom end, a man was lying on the ground, a look of shock on his face as if he didn't understand the sight of the giant spike sticking through his stomach.

Daria looked up, and saw the Strider towering over her.

-----------------------

Watts felt an impact on his side, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling over the side of the missile silo, falling nearly ten feet to the ground. Behind him, he heard a tremendous explosion as the concrete he had been laying on a mere second before was vaporized.

There was a long period of silence as he fought to catch the breath that had been forced out of him by the fall.

"Now it's three to two, amigo" Jane's strained voice said from next to his ear. It was only then that Watts noticed the weight of her lying on his back.

But his attention didn't remain there for long. Looking up at the Strider, both could see that it was already taking aim again, directly at them.

-----------------------

Daria kept staring at the Strider, unsure of how to react. She knew her guns would be useless against its armored exoskeleton. But there was no point in running and hiding. You just couldn't get away quickly enough to survive.

It was taking aim again, at something to the side of the base. The cannon began to charge, building up energy that would lance forward and vaporize anything in its path, ready to kill whatever poor sods found themselves in its way. Daria prayed against her own beliefs, hoping that it wasn't firing at Jane. She closed her eyes, awaiting the sound of the cannon firing. But instead there was an explosion, followed by a mournful electronic moan. As she opened her eyes, she saw the body of the Strider falling to the ground, having been suddenly disconnected from the legs. It crashed to the ground, causing it to shake beneath her feet.

And there, standing before her, was a man wearing orange and black armor. He had glasses and a goatee, which she really hadn't expected.

"Gordon Freeman?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he turned and ran off to intercept a new threat – another Strider that was attempting to approach.

------------------------

After the Strider exploded in front of them, Jane had decided that it was perhaps time to regroup. She and Watts ran around the front of the building, hoping to ask the lieutenant who had directed them earlier where to redeploy. Instead, they found him still speared on the leg of the Strider.

However, much to Jane's dismay, Daria was standing by the door, with a pale look on her face as if she'd just seen a ghost.

"Daria? What are you doing out here?"

"Couldn't stay behind. All the dead people. No point, can't win. You, gone."

"Daria, you're not making any sense," Jane said, with an obvious look of concern on her face.

Instead of answering, Daria fell to the ground.


	31. More Dead Heroes

**Chapter 30 -More Dead Heroes  
**

Jane rushed through the halls with her MP7 drawn, followed closely by Watts, who was carrying Daria in his arms. After what seemed like hours, they reached the medical station. Watts laid Daria onto the bed she'd been in before, as Jane ran out to find a medic. She returned a minute later, dragging a hapless physician behind her.

"Wait," he said, looking over Daria's motionless body. "This is the woman from earlier with the fractured ribs, correct?"

"Yes." Jane answered.

"And you found her outside?"

Again, "Yes."

The physician ran to a nearby intercom, and called in several more personnel. As he waited for them to arrive, he described the situation.

"Your friend has flail chest. It's when a portion of the chest wall breaks and begins to move opposite to the rest of the ribs. We need to go into surgery immediately or she could die."

Several more doctors, one of them a Vortigaunt, entered the room. The first doctor quickly ushered Jane and Watts out into the hall.

Jane sat on the footlocker she had used for cover just an hour before. Standing beside her, Watts put a hand on her shoulder.

Outside there was a faint explosion, followed by cheers. The battle had been won. Neither member of Grey Team smiled. Instead, Jane leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. Moments later, Watts could hear her sobbing and knelt down beside her. He put both arms around her, and held her close.

Some time later as the couple remained in that same position, the base began to shake as a roaring sound filled the halls. It slowly died away as both realized it was the rocket being launched. Minutes later there were more cheers, but the two soldiers sat in silence. They didn't care about the rocket or the Combine anymore.

----------------------

Daria heard a beeping sound coming from next to her, keeping pace with her heartbeat.

_Well, I'm not dead._

She opened her eyes, but the world was a blur. An indistinct blob to her right spoke up using Jane's voice.

"Oh thank god, you're awake. Hold on, let me help you."

Seconds later her vision cleared as Jane slid Daria's glasses into place.

"What happened? The last thing I remember was Gordon Freeman killing a Strider."

"Yeah," Jane began, searching for the best way to explain, "Remember how the doctor told you the best treatment for fractured ribs was to not do anything strenuous?"

"Yes." Daria answered, sensing an insult was coming.

"You did a lot of strenuous stuff and broke them off. It's called flail chest, and you nearly died. But we brought you back in here in time, and they managed to patch you up."

"How long has it been?"

Jane searched the room for a clock, spotting one on a desk.

"About twelve hours. It's almost 5 AM right now."

Finally, a question that had been nagging Daria in the back of her mind leapt forward.

"Did we win?"

Jane glanced up, looking past her to Watts, who was sitting on the other side of the bed.

"Yes," she finally answered.

"But?"

"But Eli Vance was killed. There's a lot of rumors going around, but we know it happened after the battle. We're still not sure how. There's been something floating around about Combine Advisors that had evacuated the Citadel, but I can't really piece it together."

_More dead heroes, _Daria thought to herself. Instead of repeating it out loud, she said, "I'm really glad you're okay, Jane."

"I'm really glad you're okay too, amiga."

"I think I could use some more sleep, though. And I'm sure you need it, too."

"I'm not leaving y..."

"That's an order, Corporal."

Jane nodded her head, understanding she'd lost this argument already. As she walked out of the medical station, she grabbed Watts' hand.

From her bed, Daria watched the couple leave. Part of her was happy for them, but she couldn't drown out what had been replaying in her head since the day before.

_All those dead people. Can we really win? Will our planet still be worth it if we do? Did they all die for nothing?_

Daria closed her eyes, and tried desperately not to think about it.

-------------------------

Jane and Watts had tried to find a bed somewhere in the base, but the reinforcements that had arrived prior to the battle left the building overcrowded. Eventually they gave up, and camped outside. Lying next to the fire, Jane realized that a deadline had passed.

"Hey, you know how I said I was going to give a relationship a shot if we made it through this?"

"Yeah," a sleepy voice said from behind her.

"You wanna be my boyfriend?"

"Yup."

"Cool."

Jane put her own arm over the one holding her.

"I'm worried about Daria," she finally said, but Watts was already snoring.

"I guess it can wait until morning, if she's already asleep," Jane said to no one in particular.


	32. Recorded History

**Part 31 – Recorded History**

It was two days later, and White Forest was still reeling from the loss of Eli Vance. Alyx had left with Freeman for the some important mission the day before, leaving the base under the smug command of Dr. Magnusson. Thankfully, Magnusson proved to be wrapped up in technological endeavors, and had forgotten to order around the Resistance soldiers.

Jane had tried to talk to Daria the day after the battle, but she'd been brushed off with a simple "I'm fine, really," and a change of subject. She knew she wasn't going to get anything out of Daria unless the Lieutenant wanted it that way.

The remnants of Grey Team found themselves sitting around their own personal fire, with a bottle of Vodka between them. Daria had healed quickly, owing to several huge advancements in medical science that had been borrowed from the Vortigaunts.

She grabbed the bottle, but didn't drink from it. Instead, she stared at the contents, lost in thought. After several quiet seconds, she began to talk.

"All those people... Billions of them. Dead. Dying. No one is going to remember. In a hundred years we'll either be extinct, or this is just going to be some chapter in a history book. No one is going to care about all the people who died. No one is going to remember DeMartino. No one is going to remember Jodie or Mack or Charles. So what the fuck is the point of even trying? So someone who doesn't even exist yet can have a better life?"

"Daria..." Jane tried to interject.

"Maybe the Combine are right. We're just a bunch of fucking apes, crawling around in a little pit of hormones and biological evolution. There's no point beyond making babies and killing the competition. You don't need to remember dead people when the point of your existence is to fuck."

Daria looked at the bottle in her hand, and dropped it in disgust.

"Fuck it. There's no damn point at all," she added as she rose to leave. "There never was."

As she walked away, Jane moved to follow her, but soon decided against it and sat back down, staring into the fire.

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Watts asked.

"I don't know what to do. I've seen her depressed before, but not like this. I've never seen her just give up. Usually she just gets mad and tries harder."

Jane's eyes welled up as she began to fear for her friend in a way she'd never felt before. Feeling Watts' arm around her shoulders, she buried her head into his chest and began to sob.

-----------------------

_Ten fucking years. Ten years we fought back and every single time we would lose just a little more. It's pointless. It's all fucking pointless. Nothing I did will matter in the end. Nothing they did will leave a mark in our history. They died saving millions of lives and in a few years no one will even know their names._

Daria was pacing through the halls of the missile base. She didn't know where she was headed, or what she would do when she stopped. She just needed to keep moving before she took out her anger on something simply because it had been around her too long.

_In a hundred years, this whole war will just be a story told to bored school children. Another one of the glossed-over lies we were fed to make the world sound better._

She passed an office, one of the few open doors she'd seen as the stalked through the base.

_We'll still have wars with each other as if nothing ever happened. And more people will die unnamed heroes. No one will ever remember._

Daria stopped in her tracks, and ran back to the office. Inside, she saw a stack of lab notebooks on the desk. Opening the top one, she found it to be empty. After checking several more, she grabbed a pen from a coffee cup standing next to the notebooks and left the room.

_I'll fucking MAKE them remember._

_--------------------_

Jane awoke the next morning, still beside the fire which had long-since burned itself out. A faint tickle on the back of her neck reminded her that she and Watts had fallen asleep together, looking out over the valley below. His arm was still wrapped around her midsection, holding her close.

_That's a feeling I never want to lose, _she thought, realizing she'd never smiled while waking up until a week ago.

She heard a faint scratching noise from nearby, and craned her neck to investigate. A few feet away, Daria sat with a notebook open on her lap, writing as quickly as she could. Her look of concentration put Jane's fears from the night before at ease.

"What are you writing, amiga?"

"All of it. Everything I can remember since the portal storms. My family, Trent, the Resistance, all of it."

"And you're going to fit it in one notebook?"

Daria rolled her eyes and produced a whole stack that had been sitting on her opposite side.

"I found one better suited for sketching. I thought you might want to add your own spin to this," she added, holding up a significantly larger pad of paper and a pencil.

Jane gently removed Watts' arm from around her and sat up, taking the offered sketchpad. Sketching wasn't her favorite medium, but she decided that she could at least capture a moment to paint later after finding a proper canvas. She looked around her, trying to find the right subject.

_Damnit, there's nothing. Just old bunkers and green trees and people walking around not knowing what to do with themselves. I need to be closer to the city, that's what needs to be captured. The broken Citadel, raging fires. That's what I need to record._

She closed her eyes, trying to call up the image from the day before of the broken spire protruding from the city, trying to remember enough detail to get into a painting. With her eyes shut, the sound of her environment began to seep in. The rustling of the leaves, the scribbling of her best friend. The slow breathing of the man she found herself caring about.

Daria's words from the night before began to ring in her memory.

"_All those people... Billions of them. Dead. Dying. No one is going to remember."_

Jane opened her eyes. After a few seconds of consideration, she nodded her head in agreement with herself, and stood up. She then stepped across the ashes of the night's fire, turned, and sat back down. Daria looked up from her notebook for a second to see what was happening, and immediately went back to writing.

As she put the pencil down on the page and began to draw, Jane began to feel the sense of all the events that had happened in her life. Her loneliness as a child, the friend she'd found in Daria, the loss of Trent... Years of service in the Resistance, fighting and bleeding and screaming as they held back against the Combine. Killing Grant, discovering her nature as soldier, carving out the front lines of the Rebellion with her own feet. All of it leading up to this moment, with a sketchpad in her hand.

Even though she'd worried about selling out, Jane had always wondered if her art would ever be on display in a museum. Now, she wondered if the world she saw before her was the scene she was meant - no, born - to paint. Would this sketch show up in a museum some day? Part of an exhibit on "Art from the War," perhaps. Something to be seen by everyone, a reminder of the hell their ancestors had been through to - quite literally - save the world?

With the scene before her beginning to form on the page, Jane Lane realized that she was right where she needed to be.


	33. Author's Notes: This is All to Blame

**Author's Notes: This is All to Blame**

This document is mainly for anyone who has only experienced one of the two universes that I'm crossing here. However, if you've actually enjoyed this all the way to the end without the full information, you're pretty cool in my book.

Edit: Oh yeah, I nearly forgot: Big thanks to The Angst Guy for being a fan of my original attempt, and giving me some high-quality constructive criticism that contributed greatly to the coherence of the plot this time around.

_**Disclaimer:**_

Half Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2 and their associated characters and locations are the property of Valve Software.

_Daria _and its associated characters and locations are owned by MTV.

**The Universe**

_**Changes**_

Half Life 2 is generally accepted to occur around 2020. In order to have DeMartino as a Vietnam veteran and still young enough to fight, I've moved it to 2010.

_**Timeline**_

May, 2000: Daria and Jane graduate high school, Watts graduates college.

August, 2000: An experiment at the Black Mesa Research Facility causes a resonance cascade which begins the Portal Storms

August, 2000 – Early 2001: The Combine take notice of the portal activity on Earth and invade, kicking off the Seven Hour War. Doctor Wallace Breen (former administrator of Black Mesa) offers Earth's surrender. The Combine accept and end the Portal Storms

Late 2001: The Combine establishes a governing presence on Earth, starting in the United States. Dr. Breen is appointed administrator of Earth. Citizens flee to Western Europe and are followed, forcing many Americans to continue running to Eastern Europe, including The Ukraine. The surviving Lawndale citizens are among the evacuees, as are Watts and his sister.

2005: Helen and Quinn are killed in Ravenolm.

2006: Watts' sister is killed in City 23.

September – October 2010: The events of Lambda, Half-Life 2, and the two subsequent Episodes.

_**Locations**_

**City 23:** Formerly Amsterdam. City 23 has a strong Resistance presence because it was the main port in which refugees from America entered Europe.

**City 17: **Formerly Odessa in The Ukraine. Became a center of the Resistance after the Combine established Earth's new government in the city. This process involved teleporting the Citadel to its current location.

**Character Profiles**

Ages for _Daria _characters are based on Daria and Jane graduating in 2000, using birthdays as dated by Richard Lobinske's Daria Temporal Analysis Project.

**Major Characters:**

_**Daria Morgendorffer**_

Age: 28

Hometown: Highland, Texas/Lawndale, Maryland

History:

-Was about to move to Boston when the Portal Storms began.

-Jake was killed in the Portal Storms, Helen and Quinn in the shelling of Ravenholm

Daria's still sarcastic and cynical, and far more of a realist than those around her. However, the loss of her family to the Combine and the fight to survive has erased her apathy and misanthropy. Her personality has blossomed (or as she says herself, thrived) in the day-to-day struggle.

Daria's realism makes her a perfect candidate for expressing the negative viewpoint about Freeman's actions. I thought that particular plot line was necessary, given the contrast between the worship you receive in the game and the aftermath of your battles.

_**Jane Lane**_

Age: 28

Hometown: Lawndale, Maryland

-Trent was killed in the Portal Storms (Original draft had Trent asleep at home, killed by a Vortigaunt. Jane was spared because she was at Daria's, helping her friend pack for college.)

-Rest of the Lane family's status is unknown. Jane assumed they were dead and got over it.

Jane has survived, but largely through complete apathy. Despite becoming a pretty good soldier, she did so only to watch Daria's back. Otherwise, she has simply coasted whenever possible. She doesn't realize her own natural abilities as a soldier until she has to deal with killing Grant.

_**Anthony DeMartino**_

Age: 60

Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

History:

-Vietnam veteran

-Became a teacher in the hope of getting kids to learn enough about the world to avoid the mistakes of their parents.

-Was terribly disappointed that this idea didn't work.

-Love of 60's and 70's music spawned from his experience as a soldier

After surviving Vietnam and languishing as a high school teacher, DeMartino feels more alive than ever as a soldier in what is popularly accepted as a justified war. He loves the idea of fighting the establishment of the Combine government, as it reminds him of the rebellious movements of the 60's and 70's.

_**Alan Watts**_

Age: 32

Hometown: Fort Dodge, Iowa.

History:

-Had just graduated college when the Portal Storms began. (In an early draft, Watts recounted a story where he was in a job interview. The interviewer was killed in front of him by a Vortigaunt.)

-Parents died in the Portal Storms. Sister died in a Civil Protection raid several years before the story.

Watts is just trying to survive, for no other reason than just surviving. With no family, he forms a casual friendship with his superior, DeMartino, but doesn't particularly care about anyone - including himself. Still harbors some feelings of revenge over his family, but it's been so long that he's all but given up on that idea.

**Minor Characters:**

_**Odessa Cubbage:**_

-Unknown if Odessa is his real name or a nickname. Strangely has the same name as his base of operations and the city in which it is located.

-Complete, total, passive aggressive asshole.

-Liar. (In Episode 1, the player can overhear a conversation mentioning that Odessa took credit for shooting down a gunship, a feat actually accomplished by the player, Gordon Freeman, in Half Life 2).

-Coward (In his own words, when the base is under attack he stays behind in the safe basement to radio to Lighthouse Point.

-I swear I want to shoot him for the accent alone. I can't be the only one.

_**Charles Ruttheimer III**_

-Relationship with Andrea stems from his very last scene in the series. Andrea turned out to be a no-nonsense kind of woman, and quickly put him in his place.

_**Jodie and Mack**_

-Married for 7 years, still the same hardworking couple, although they have far more personal motivation now.


End file.
